susie's big adventure

A New Dawn of Progress

2012-01-24T18:55:00.000+03:00

One of the things that I have had a very difficult time with since moving to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been the extreme gender segregation that Saudis live by. Things like men and women working together or simply socializing at public functions - that are considered ordinary behavior in the West - have been forbidden because of the hard-hitting enforcement of this issue applied by KSA's religious police force. The ever-present religious police, which have the long official name of "The Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" (CPVPV), is also known as Haia. What I have personally seen and experienced of the gender segregation here has been so exaggerated, unnatural, and unnecessary - and I can only shake my head in disbelief.

In Islam, a man and a woman who are not married/blood-related to each other are not supposed to be “secluded” together - but in Saudi Arabia, this religious law has for years been taken a step further to include pretty much all normal open social contact between men and women, even in the most public of places and circumstances.

That's why I'm feeling encouraged by a recent action taken by The King of Saudi Arabia as he recently replaced the head of the religious police with a more moderate choice. Sheikh Abdullatif Al-Asheikh, who holds a degree in Islamic Studies, is the new minister of the Haia. He replaces Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Humayen, whose reign since his appointment in 2009 as the morality police chief, has been much criticized and plagued with controversy.

But not only has KSA’s beloved King appointed this fresh face to clean up the tarnished image of the CPVPV, he has also given the new appointee implicit instructions as to his expectations and desires, paving the way for what should be a kinder, gentler Saudi Arabia. Told to show leniency and respect to both Saudi citizens and foreigners, Sheikh Al-Sheikh said “King Abdullah stressed the tolerant and moderate nature of Islam” and asked him “to spread the correct understanding of Islam among people.”

In one of his first official acts as the new Minister of the CPVPV, Al-Sheikh dismissed the volunteer members of the Haia, who at times have garnered undesirable attention for their aggressiveness, misbehavior, and improper abuses of authority.

According to Arab News, “The sheikh is of the view that hardline approach in the issue of ikhtilat (mixing in public places or in the presence of others in a dignified manner) is unjustified.” The forward thinker is also against marriages of underage little girls and agrees that female salesclerks should be manning women’s lingerie shops, not men – issues that have caused controversy and have cropped up in the news for many years.

The implications of this new appointment appear to be ushering in a new dawn for the Saudi Arabian people. To some, it may not seem very significant, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s a major development and a very welcome and much-needed step in Saudi Arabia’s evolution toward social modernization in the 21st century.

For more information about this topic:

Arab News article “Abdullatif Al-Asheikh is new Haia chief”

Arab News article “King tells new Haia chief to be lenient with people”

Digital Journal article “Saudi King replaces head of morality police with moderate”

Al-Arab Online article "Sheikh Abdullatif seeks to reduce violations of Saudi religious police"

Saudi Gazette article “Hai’a no longer needs volunteers: Al-Sheikh”

Wikipedia article on KSA’s Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Saudi Arabia)

An Evening at Il Villaggio Restaurant

2012-01-21T18:42:00.007+03:00

A few nights ago my husband and I had the privilege of attending a special event at Jeddah's Il Villaggio Restaurant which was celebrating its 5th Annual International Day of Italian Cuisines. About fifty invited guests feasted on this year's official specially selected dish, Ossobuco in Gremolata alla Milanese, made of tender veal shanks and traditionally served with risotto. The evening's menu also included Sprout Salad with fennel, orange, olives, lettuce, and almonds, and for dessert a delicious Grapefruit Sorbet with cinnamon fragrance.

Prior to the meal, Executive Chef Vincenzo Raschella began the evening with a live cooking demonstration on how to prepare the Ossobuco dish and gave tips about the ease of growing your own sprouts. He was assisted by Sous Chef Raffaele Cuomo.

Il Villaggio Restaurant is housed in a beautiful building on Al Andalus Street, in a bustling part of Jeddah which is home to many consulates, businesses, and other restaurants. The ceiling in the main entrance area is a gorgeous stained glass dome.

Inside there is a lovely courtyard open above to the twinkling stars and the deep cerulean sky where we served a choice of luscious fruit juices. There is also a lovely little shop where one can purchase special Italian ingredients.

My husband and I enjoyed meeting many of the invited guests which included dignitaries from the Italian Consulate, representatives from news sources, as well as other expatriates and Saudis.

I would like to thank the management for including us at this very special event and the finely trained service staff at Il Villaggio Restaurant, who were ultra-attentive and ever-present without being obtrusive.

Stay abreast of what's happening at Il Villaggio Restaurant of Jeddah: LIKE their Facebook page.

For an in depth interview with Chef Vincenzo Baschella, including his recipe for Ossobuco in Gremolata alla Milanese, check out this Arab News article written by Amjad Parkar.

Jeddah's Il Villagio Restaurant Celebrates Italy

2012-01-15T11:01:00.005+03:00

ATTENTION JEDDAH RESIDENTS: It's that time of year again when Il Villagio Restaurants and Lounges celebrates its 5th annual International Day of Italian Cuisines - with a Gala Dinner on January 17, 2012, featuring this year's official dish, OSSOBUCO IN GREMOLATA ALLA MILANESE. The Gala Dinner promises to be an exciting and tasty event - there will be a special demonstration about the Ossobuco dish by Executive Chef Vincenzo Raschella and Sous Chef Raffaele Cuomo.

The menu for this special evening features:
******
2012 Sprout Salad
Fennel, orange, Taggiasche olives, lettuce, almonds and a mix of fresh garden grown sprouts
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Ossobuco in Gremolata alla Milanese
Braised veal shank, sprinkled with chopped parsley, garlic and lemon zest on Polenta Incatenata made of corn flour with herbs, cabbage and beans
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Grapefruit Sorbet with cinnamon fragrance
******

ACT QUICKLY FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A DINNER FOR TWO at Jeddah's Il Villaggio Restaurant. Just LEAVE A COMMENT on this post telling me what your FAVORITE ITALIAN DISH is. Be sure to include your NAME and EMAIL ADDRESS. The deadline for entering is 12:00 noon on Tuesday, JANUARY 17. If you are unable to attend the Gala Dinner that evening, the lucky winner will be able to enjoy your free dinner another evening of your choosing through January 31, when the Il Villagio celebration ends.

For more information about International Day of Italian Cuisines online, click HERE.

Il Villaggio Restaurant & Lounges, Al Andalus Street, Jeddah - Telephone 02-668-8233

A Victory for Saudi Women

2012-01-05T22:05:00.006+03:00

It was one of those head-scratching confusions about Saudi society that was impossible to wrap one's head around - a strictly religious and gender-segregated society forcing its black-cloaked women to purchase bras and panties and cosmetics from a men-only sales force. It was common for the salesmen to size up their customers, telling the women things like, "You need a 36C not a 34B." The whole situation was distasteful, undignified, embarrassing and shameful for a country that claims its women are not oppressed and are protected and insulated from the morally corrupt West.

Since the passage of a law in 2006 banning men from selling lingerie and cosmetics to women in Saudi Arabia, it was "business as usual" for the last five years as business owners chose to ignore the law in hopes that it would just be forgotten. But the women of the country would not allow it to just fade away.

What it finally took for the law to be enforced was a Royal Decree and threats of penalties and loss of business.

So finally, after years of protests, boycotting lingerie shops, and outcries about the absurdity of it all, a significant change has come to the holy land of Islam. One may not think that employing women in sales positions is a big deal, but in a place like Saudi Arabia, it presented major headaches and additional expenses for business owners. In typical Saudi fashion, it's much more complicated than it needs to be. The interior of female-only shops must not be visible to anyone from the outside. There must be a minimum of at least three women working each shift. Keeping men and women separated in a working environment, providing security for female employees, and other extra measures are required to employ women in sales positions.

I remember in 2010 as the Saudi religious police objected vehemently when Hyper Panda (a mega-supermaket chain in Saudi Arabia) hired female cashiers on the basis that the move was an effort to "westernize" Saudi society. And now, apparently, the religious police have done a complete about face, cooperating with the Labor Ministry to ensure the success of this new measure which champions women's rights.

This is indeed a huge victory for Saudi women, who increasingly seem to yearn for more rights and a more active role in their society despite opposition. While gaining every inch is a hard-fought uphill battle, Saudi women should be proud of this achievement.

"No Refund Policy" Angers Middle East Customers

2011-12-27T21:50:00.017+03:00

I've written about it before, but I really hate shopping in Saudi Arabia. Despite the fact that the countless sparkling new shopping malls are beautiful and amazing, and irregardless of the sad truth that because of cultural restrictions there is just not much else to do in the way of activities for women in Saudi Arabia besides shop, shopping in Saudi Arabia is not something I have ever really enjoyed - and it's just gotten a whole lot worse.

The large Middle Eastern retail conglomerate, M. H. Alshaya, has enraged customers with a new policy that does not allow refunds for returned merchandise - only store credits will be offered.

The big unique problem in Saudi Arabia with this policy is that most clothing stores in the country do not provide dressing rooms for women to try on clothing before purchasing it. Why? Because they are illegal! Since most sales positions in KSA are jobs almost exclusively limited to men, even in women's clothing and lingerie stores, there are just too many wild X-rated possibilities that could conceivably happen in these changing rooms. So the imaginative Saudi religious clerics have deemed these convenient little necessities as totally immoral dens of filthy lust. Their answer is to deprive women in Saudi Arabia the ability to actually try on clothing first before buying it, preventing sexual attacks on women in various stages of undress in retail changing rooms.

Many stores have routinely imposed a strict return policy in the past, limiting the time frame for a return to three days. Imagine the problems this creates for women in Saudi Arabia who cannot drive and do not have drivers at their disposal to run them back to the store to return an item that doesn't fit. It's more than just a hassle.

Across the Middle East, Alshaya controls over 55 different retail chains, managing more than 2,000 franchises in 15 countries. Here is a list of companies in Saudi Arabia that Alshaya manages (I've included some links to their websites or email addresses):

American Eagle
BHS
Boots
Claires - email: customersupport@claires.com
Coast
Debenhams - email: heretohelp@debenhams.com
Dorothy Perkins
Evans
Express
Foot Locker
H&M
Justice - email: customerrelations@tweenbrands.com
Mac
Milano
Mothercare
Next
Oasis
Office Depot
Payless
Peacocks
Pottery Barn
Pottery Barn Kids
River
Island
Solaris
Topman
Topshop
VaVaVoom
Vision Express
Warehouse

I would urge you all to voice your objections to these stores' unfair trade practices in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. Alshaya's phone number in Saudi Arabia is 920000-2482. For Alshaya's phone contacts in other countries in the region, click here. And here is the email address of Alshaya: customercare@alshaya.com

A Facebook group has also been established to promote the boycotting of these stores under the Alshaya umbrella. Please join and show your support.

WOMEN OF THE WORLD, I ASK YOU: Have you ever been sexually attacked by a lusty salesperson while trying on clothing in a retail changing room? Whether you have or not, I want to hear it from you, so please add a comment to this post with your experience. What do you think of the Saudi religious establishment's position of forbidding women's changing rooms to prevent sexual attacks on women - justified or not?

Saudi Women's Suffrage Mired in Suppression

2011-12-20T07:27:00.004+03:00

The following opinion piece was just published in The GlobalPost and was written by Saudi blogger, Eman Al Nafjan, who writes one of my favorite blogs, "SAUDIWOMAN'S WEBLOG."

King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz addressed the 150 members of the all-appointed advisory council (Shura) in September to announce that he rejects the marginalization of Saudi women. He said that after seeking advice from religious scholars within the country’s highest Islamic council and others outside of it, he had come to the decision to include women in the Shura and allow them full participation in future municipal elections.

This announcement came as a complete surprise to most Saudis. When word got out that the King was to address the Shura, most thought it was to speak about the housing crisis, a major concern and a point of grievance for many. And although there is a women’s suffrage campaign headed by Dr. Hatoon Al Fassi and Fawziah Al Hani, it was recently overshadowed by the campaign against the ban on women driving. So women’s suffrage and their appointment to the Shura was the last thing anyone was thinking about then.

To outsiders, the king’s announcement may seem like an enormous breakthrough for women’s rights. However, the current status of women foretells that it will take a lot more than one royal announcement for things to change in Saudi.

As a Saudi woman, I was overjoyed to hear King Abdullah’s announcement. But since then, it has become apparent that misogynistic religious fundamentalists still have quite a hold on governmental decisions and public opinion. There has been little indication so far of any substantial change in processes and procedures within the government. And the tone and discourse of the Saudi religious establishment remains as conservative as it ever was, if not more so.

Sheikh Al Luhaidan, the oldest member of the highest Islamic council was probably the most shocked by King Abdullah’s speech. In an interview on an Islamic cable TV network, Al Majd, he said that he had no prior knowledge of the king’s decision nor was he asked his opinion on the inclusion of women. He also said he wished the King had not mentioned the highest Islamic council at all.

The Minister of Justice, Sheikh Mohammed Al Eissa, was quick to issue a statement the next day that women appointed to the Shura will not be allowed to be physically present on the floor. Instead, arrangements will be made for them to watch each session via closed circuit TV and only participate via microphone so they remain unseen to the Shura’s male members.

Shortly after the king’s announcement, a Saudi woman, Shaima Jastania, was sentenced to 10 lashes across the back for driving her car in the port city of Jeddah, and a young man was sentenced to 15 lashes and two weeks in prison for taking photographs of Shaima while she was driving. Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal announced that the king had pardoned Shaima and vacated the lashing sentence, but her case is still pending in court.

Two female reporters, Samiya Al Eissa and Nesreen Najm Al Deen, wrote about Shaima’s case in a local newspaper. As a result, the two reporters were referred to the Ministry of Information’s press violation committee — not for reporting an untruth, but for reporting a truth that the Ministry views as threatening to national unity. The Ministry’s accusatory letter was leaked and a scanned copy made the rounds on social media, where many pointed out that the two reporters were not the only ones to report Shaima’s case. A similar report by a male reporter was published in Al Hayat newspaper, no reports have surfaced that he was reprimanded or accused of causing national discord.

That my country’s stability is so fragile in the eyes of some that a woman driving her own car and two women reporting the injustice of her punishment is a threat to its very unity is an indication of how sinister the women’s movement is to them and how seriously challenging it is to speak out for women’s rights.

Last week, 17 members of a literary association in the Western city of Al Baha walked out of meeting in protest of a female writer and professor, Suaad Al Mana, addressing the association on stage with her face uncovered. This despite her wearing the full black cloak — the abaya — and completely covering her hair. The members who walked out stated that a woman standing on stage in front of men is the beginning of the moral disintegration of Saudi society. Before walking out, the group called those who remained “secularists” as if it was a dirty accusation and shouted that this type of gathering is what caused the fall of the Islamic Empire in Spain. A spokesperson for the group, Ahmed Al Amari, told Al Sharq Alawsat that their objection “is based on sharia, legal and social grounds.”

Replying to inquiries from members of the Shura, the Ministry of Justice spokesperson stated on November 14 that Saudi authorities cannot force their employees or judges to look at a woman’s face to compare it against her ID card. That’s why they will implement an electronic fingerprinting system to verify a woman’s identity without having her remove the cloth covering her face.

Recently, Saudi public elementary schools have allowed first through third grade boys to have female teachers. One of the last orders made by Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz as he was leaving his post as Riyadh governor to become Minister of Defense was that these schools must ensure the 6- through 8-year-old boys not be able to talk or play with their female peers in school corridors or during recess.

These examples demonstrate how long and treacherous the road will be for the cause of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. Even decisions at the highest level of government in an absolute monarchy such as ours will only just begin to dent the armor of fundamentalism behind which many hide their misogyny.

As a country that is trying to modernize its economy and society, this fundamentalist mindset poses a unique challenge. Since the late 1970s, this faction of society has had immense decision-making power particularly in education and the courts — the two areas where interaction between the government and the average citizen is greatest. Three decades later, they have managed to make their ideology the foundation on which education and justice are based. Even appointing progressive ministers has failed to make any substantial change because from the bottom up, the system is sustained by people who have a religious conviction to resist change. Nothing is harder to shake than that type of conviction.

Steps such as appointing women to the Shura council and allowing them to participate in municipal elections, positive as they may be, are not as influential as enabling and empowering the average Saudi woman to represent herself without the obstacles of male guardianship, male drivers and strict segregation work codes. What’s the use of having a female Shura member as a representative to the government when a woman cannot represent herself in her own life?

This work was supported by a 2011 Knight Luce Fellowship for Reporting on Global Religion and edited by Knight Luce 2011 Fellow Caryle Murphy. The fellowship is a program of the University of Southern California's Knight Program in Media and Religion.

Women Drivers Are Not Virgins

2011-12-03T21:04:00.014+03:00

This is yet another post which falls under the category of:
"YOU JUST CAN'T MAKE STUFF LIKE THIS UP!"

In one heavyweight punch aimed at keeping Saudi women out of the driver's seat in Saudi Arabia, the country's religious establishment has apparently conducted a "scientific study" with surprising results, leaving the rest of the world reeling at the absurdity of it all.

In the continuing saga of the controversial battle between those who want to keep Saudi women at home (or in the back seat) and those who want to see Saudi women sitting behind the wheel, the study's findings seemingly show conclusive evidence that allowing Saudi women to drive would result in the loss of their virginity. How this magically happens is not exactly clear. But Saudi Arabia's religious scholars are convinced that in all other countries of the world where women DO drive, there are no more virgins left - so they can only assume that this would occur in Saudi Arabia too if letting women drive were permitted.

Saudi Arabian experts have long maintained that in the rest of the world where women can drive, all these women drivers have become immoral sluts - and now these experts allegedly have "scientific evidence" to back up these claims. Not only that, the study also supposedly proves that lifting the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia would also cause KSA to suffer other effects of moral decline as well, such as a rise in homosexuality, pornography, unmarried sex, and divorce rates.

With a divorce rate already as high as a jaw-dropping 62%, letting women drive in Saudi Arabia would spell certain disaster for the sanctity of marriage in KSA. On the other hand, since the divorce rate is already so high, maybe women drivers would have the reverse effect, who knows? Probably not though, since their study was "scientific," after all.

The campaign for women driving has gained steam over this past year, with women all over the country quietly taking to the wheel despite the ban. Earlier this year Manal al Sharif was jailed for ten days for driving, and another woman, Shaiman Jastaniya, was sentenced to ten lashes for daring to drive in Saudi Arabia, but was spared that fate by the Saudi king.

Saudi women must rely on male family members for their transportation needs, or are forced to hire drivers or take taxis - situations which place Saudi women in the precarious position of being alone in a car with an unrelated male, which is forbidden by the strict Saudi interpretations of Islam.

In a country where religious police are necessary to keep the population in line morally, this latest "scientific study" comes as no surprise. One of my first thoughts when I read about this study was that if women ever do gain the right to drive in Saudi Arabia, the old perverts in the country will flaunt this study to justify marrying 8 year old girls because there weren't any other virgins available.

Do they know how ridiculous all of this sounds to the rest of the world, or do they just not care what the rest of the world thinks?

Saudi Woman Makes Headlines - for Speeding in Dubai

2011-11-20T07:57:00.006+03:00

It must have been a really slow news day for the Saudi Gazette and other newspapers in the region.

Articles with titles like "Speeding Saudi Woman’s Bentley Impounded in Dubai" and "Saudi Woman Fined for Speeding in Dubai" appeared in national Saudi newspapers and in Emirates 24/7 News. In fact the Emirates newspaper even published a lovely photo of the speeding Saudi businesswoman, Maha Makki.

Here is an excerpt from the Saudi Gazette article:

Maha Makki, a Saudi businesswoman, ran several red lights while speeding in her Bentley car in Dubai because she had an important business appointment she didn’t want to miss.
The traffic police however did not accept her explanation. She was fined heavily and her car has been impounded for 60 days.
Maha says she did not notice the red lights because she was in a hurry and that it was the first traffic violation she has ever had in her life. “Maybe I was driving a bit fast,” she said.

And why exactly is this news? Because the driver was a Saudi woman - no other reason. It's as if these newspapers are saying, "See? This is why we don't let women drive in Saudi Arabia. Women are bad drivers."

If this is truly news, where are all the articles which involve Saudi men who have committed traffic infractions? Because when men speed and run red lights, it's not news - but it is when WOMEN do!

Saudi Arabia ranks dead last in the entire world when it comes to traffic safety - gee, I wonder if that could be because only men are permitted to drive in KSA? It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out.

These newspapers should be ashamed of themselves for turning this incident into propaganda, for supporting discrimination against Saudi women, and for perpetuating the myth that women are not safe drivers. I am totally disgusted.

Can Muslims be Good Americans?

2011-11-17T22:24:00.003+03:00

In this short video segment from Anderson Cooper's show, a woman expresses her opinion about Muslims in America not being able to be good citizens because of their religious beliefs. Four of the stars of the show "All-American Muslim" are panelists and respond to the woman's statements.

If you missed the first episode of "All-American Muslims," which aired this past Sunday evening, you can catch a re-airing of the first episode tonight on TLC (The Learning Channel). New episodes of "All-American Muslims" are shown on TLC on Sunday evenings, and are reshown on Mondays and Thursdays.

How to Guide for Saudi Women

2011-11-14T06:41:00.002+03:00

"All-American Muslims" on TLC

2011-11-06T09:55:00.005+03:00

TLC (The Learning Channel) will soon be airing a special eight-part reality TV series called “All American Muslims,” which will allow us all a glimpse into the private lives of five Muslim-American families. It was filmed in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of the metropolitan Detroit area, which is known for having America’s largest concentration of Arab-Americans. Boasting a population of almost 100,000, approximately 1/3 of Dearborn’s residents are of Arab descent. This also translates into a high concentration of Muslims in the area.

I went on the TLC website and watched five short enjoyable teaser segments of the show, and I was intrigued by the personalities and real-life situations of the families. It was interesting to see the clear religious differences and vast spectrum of how the show’s cast practice and follow Islam within their community. For example, while many of the women wear hijab (head covering) and dress modestly, other women on the show did not. In fact, one woman has tattoos, piercings, and pink hair.

From the TLC website: “The show reveals how these individuals negotiate universal family issues while remaining faithful to the traditions and beliefs of their faith.”

The All-American Muslim Families:

The Amen family is featured as their daughter Shadia marries Jeff, an Irish Catholic who has agreed to convert to Islam, and other extended family members also face their own trials, like fertility issues.

Nader and Nawal Aoude are a newlywed couple who are anticipating the arrival of their first child and have their own ideas about how they will raise it.

Nina Bazzy is a married businesswoman and mother of a young son. Although she was raised in a traditional Muslim household, Nina marches to her own drum and has plans to open a nightclub, the nature of which presents its own problems within her family and Muslim community.

Mike Jaafar is a deputy sheriff and his wife Angela is a consultant. Together they are the busy involved parents to four children, and they work toward promoting understanding of the Muslim community.

The Zaban family consists of dad Fouad, a high school football coach, mom Zaynab, who wears hijab and works part-time as a secretary, and their four children. Coach Zaban struggles with finding the right balance between his Islamic faith and working his mostly Muslim team during Ramadan, when Muslims are required to fast during the day.

If you’re looking for a racy TV reality show like the Kardashians or any of those Housewives shows, you won’t find it here. But in a climate where part of the American population considers all Muslims as terrorists, I’m hoping many people will tune in to see for themselves how normal and truly American these families are. This TLC project will put human faces and personalities to Muslim people, when in the past our main conjured up images of Muslims have been tinged with Orientalism or stereotypes to be feared.

"All-American Muslims" premieres on TLC on Sunday, November 13th at 10pm (9pm Central).

Click here to view five short sneak peak previews from the upcoming TLC series, "All-American Muslims."

Stirring the Pot of Controversy

2011-10-31T00:03:00.005+03:00

The internet is abuzz with a religious controversy that at its core now appears to have no basis other than a lawyer trying to stir up trouble for Muslims.

When I initially read this article, I just shook my head in disbelief at the absurdity of the situation: a complaint under investigation by the District of Columbia Office of Human Rights about Muslim students attending Catholic University alleging that their human rights are being violated because they have not been provided a haven on campus free of Christian symbolism in which to pray. In addition, the complaint further says that Muslim students were also being denied the right to form their own Muslim student group.

Sounds rather absurd, doesn’t it? I mean, what exactly would one expect at a Catholic university?

Well, as it turns out, there are in fact no Muslim students at all behind this complaint. It is the work of an attorney and law professor at George Washington University Law School, John F. Banzhaf III. One would have to wonder what his motivations are. Is he truly concerned with Muslim students’ rights, or is he just trying to cause trouble for Muslims by making them appear to be demanding, frivolous, and unreasonable?

To read more about this topic:

Charges Agsinst Catholic University Were Not Made by Muslims, by The American Muslim

Attorney: Crosses at Catholic University violate human rights of Muslim students, at Syracuse.com

Catholic University's Muslim Students Should Have Prayer Rooms Without Crucifix, Complaint States, on The Huffington Post

Hijab in the Workplace

2011-10-24T07:17:00.008+03:00

The topic of hijab (the cloth which covers the hair of Muslim women) has been garnering attention around the world for many years, affecting law in France, causing conflict in US courts, spurring cries of discrimination at an amusement park in the US, even inciting a woman's murder in a court in Germany, as well as a multitude of various other worldwide incidents linked to wearing hijab.

Are you a woman who has worn hijab in the workplace? Has your experience been positive or negative?

If you didn't wear hijab and then later decided to do so, did you place it on one day and show up to work with it unexpectedly? If so, how did your colleagues react?

Did you tell a superior or other colleagues that you wanted to start wearing hijab first? If so, what were the responses and how did they react once you started wearing it?

What are your thoughts on discussing your plan to begin wearing hijab first verses just showing up one day with hijab on?

Have any of you interviewed for a position without hijab and then later began working with hijab?

Are there certain working environments that seem to be more hijab-friendly than others? What environments have seemed hostile?

If you do not wear hijab but have experienced interaction with a hijabi worker, what was your impression of the encounter?

If you'd like to participate in this discussion focusing on hijab in the workplace, please be sure to indicate in your comments what country your encounters occurred in, since this factor can greatly influence one's experience.

For great tips and demonstrations on wearing hijab, check out HijabTrendz Channel on youtube.

KSA's Crown Prince Sultan Dies

2011-10-22T20:11:00.006+03:00

Saudi Arabia is a country in mourning as its citizens learned of the October 22nd passing of Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who was next in line to the Saudi throne. The news opens up major speculation as to who will be named to replace him as Crown Prince of the oil-rich nation. The Prince's health in the past few years had been failing, as he reportedly battled colon cancer and Alzheimer's disease.

Reports of the age of the Crown Prince range from 81 to 86 years old, a common dispute for many older Saudis. My own husband actually has three different official birthdays. Saudi Arabia uses the lunar Hijri calendar, which is 11-12 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar used in the west. This can create disputes about someone's birthdate when trying to convert the Arabic dates into the western calendar. The Islamic calendar is purely based on the moon and does not take into account the seasons. The cycle of the seasons repeats itself in the Hijri calendar only once every 33 Islamic years.

Crown Prince Sultan was a half brother of KSA's ruling monarch, beloved King Abdullah, who himself last week underwent yet another back surgery and is still recuperating. Sultan served his country in many varied capacities over the years - as First Deputy Prime Minister, Inspector General, Minister of Defense, Minister of Aviation, Governor of Riyadh, Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Communications. A Wikileaks document of a diplomatic cable dated March 2009 revealed that the Crown Prince was "incapacitated," due to the effects of dementia or Alzheimer's.

Crown Prince Sultan was fluent in English, married at least ten wives, and was father to at least seven sons. His funeral arrangements have been set for October 25, 2011, in Riyadh.

Extreme Gender Segregation

2011-10-17T23:43:00.004+03:00

This is a sign on the door of a Subway sandwich shop in Saudi Arabia. Women are not allowed in restaurants that do not have separate entrances and sections for families.

Saudi Women's Lives Full of Contradictions

2011-09-29T23:57:00.007+03:00

It's difficult to explain the daily contradictions Saudi women face living in their male-dominated ultra-conservative Islamic country. Fellow blogger EMAN AL NAFJAN, who writes SAUDI WOMAN, has managed to express how utterly confusing life really is in the following article she wrote for the Guardian...

Life for Saudi women is a constant state of contradiction
Saudi Arabia's political paradoxes mean that a woman can be elected to parliament – but she'll need a man to drive her there

What's it like being a Saudi woman? A common question I've come to expect from outsiders – even fellow Arabs. The restrictiveness of the guardianship system, gender segregation and a persistently sexist culture add up to create an exotic and mysterious lifestyle that is difficult to not only explain but also to comprehend.

How do you explain the ingrained paradox of the driving ban on women? The point of the ban is that women avoid situations that lead to them mixing with and meeting men. However, the ban then leads to the necessity of hiring a strange man and getting into the car with him on a daily basis.

How do you explain the huge amounts of money the government spends on educating and training women, so much so that 60% of college graduates in Saudi are women – educating and training all these women, despite the fact that gender segregation laws makes employing them virtually impossible.

How do you explain that this is the way of life that the average Saudi wants for his or her country, when anyone getting on a plane leaving Saudi cannot help but notice how quickly the Saudi passengers abandon their abayas and conservative mannerisms?

A country of contradictions; Saudis have coined an Arabic phrase to explain the unexplainable that translates into "Saudi exceptionality". This past week Saudi exceptionality did not disappoint.

After years of Saudis campaigning and petitioning the king to lift the women driving ban and ease the restrictiveness of the guardianship system, King Abdullah decreed last week that women would be allowed as full members of the Saudi parliament and would be allowed to vote and run in future municipal elections. In bafflement, we celebrated the decree.

Then, within a couple of days of the decree, a Saudi woman was sentenced to 10 lashes for driving her own car. Although women are banned from driving, they have never been sentenced to physical punishment for it. The usual is signing a pledge and in extreme cases paid suspension from their jobs and prison sentences that are never more than a few days.

Local political analysts believe that this lashing was some sort of reaction from the judicial courts to the king's decree. A national and international outcry soon followed and the woman was later pardoned but the contradiction still stands. So in 18 months' time a Saudi woman can be a member of parliament providing that her male guardian allows her to and she finds a man to drive her there.

How do Saudis explain that? It depends on where they stand concerning women's rights issues. Those for women's rights commend the wisdom of empowering women at the highest levels of decision-making so that their voices will trickle down to create real change in the everyday life of the average Saudi woman.

Women members on the Shura council will help bring issues such as child marriages and the unemployment rate for women to the forefront. However, those who oppose the decision see it as the government bending to international pressure. To them, the recent campaigns by organisations such as Amnesty International and Change.org have pushed the government to go against the will of the people.

Either way, the end result is the same, another paradox. Another item to add to the list of things that make explaining what it's like being a Saudi woman difficult; another illogical milestone in Saudi history. The only consistency is "Saudi exceptionality".

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

2011-09-28T22:03:00.001+03:00

On Women Voting in Saudi Arabia

2011-09-28T21:23:00.003+03:00

Woman Caught "Driving While Female" to be Lashed

2011-09-27T22:55:00.007+03:00

I am outraged.

Two days after the King of Saudi Arabia declared that his country would no longer "marginalize" women, a Saudi woman who dared to drive her own car has been sentenced to 10 lashes.

This is barbaric and unacceptable.

Photo Credit: NPR Michael Bou-Nackie

Saudi women are denied the right to drive in this society. Some fortunate wealthier Saudi women can afford to hire drivers who are at their beck and call, but many Saudi women are not in the position to do this. Many women must depend on their husbands, fathers, or brothers to drive them to places they need to be.

This is degrading and undignified - and certainly it marginalizes women.

Men like to use the argument that women are prohibited from driving for "their own protection." After all, it is much safer for a woman to stay at home than to be out in a car where the streets are overrun with angry stressed-out testosterone driven cars. Saudi Arabia is an extreme gender segregated society. Women are not supposed to be alone with a man who is not related to them. Women who hire drivers or who take taxis are forced to be alone in a vehicle with an unrelated man. THIS IS HARAM! (Haram means forbidden, against the religion.)

King Abdullah, I beseech you - stop this barbaric madness!

Grant the women of your country their dignity. Women drive safely all over the world. Why not in Saudi Arabia? First it was Manal Al Sharif who spent 10 days in jail for driving while female. Now your country has upped the punishment to 10 lashes. Sentencing a woman to ten lashes for merely driving a car is insane. Driving a car is not a crime. What about all the little boys in your country who drive without any repercussions? Aren't they more dangerous behind the wheel than a grown woman?

This unfair, sexist and discriminatory practice against the women of Saudi Arabia must stop now! LET THE WOMEN OF SAUDI ARABIA DRIVE!!!

Further reading:

Ahmed Al Omran for NPR "Saudi Woman Sentenced to Lashes After Defying Driving Ban"

SaudiWoman's post "Saudi Women Driving Movement"

Washington Post: Saudi Woman Sentenced to 10 Lashes for Driving

UPDATE: Apparently King Abdullah has overturned the lashing punishment for the woman who was sentenced to 10 lashes for driving while female in Saudi Arabia.

King Says Saudi Women Can Now Vote

2011-09-27T07:09:00.012+03:00

Photo Credit: TNT Magazine

It's big news. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia made an announcement yesterday that Saudi women will be allowed to vote and run for office in the next municipal elections in 2015. In a country where women cannot drive, are legally considered children their entire lives, and must have their male guardian's approval to do things like travel, get an education, or work, getting the right to vote may sound like a really big victory for Saudi women on the surface. Outwardly to the rest of the world, this may seem like a major development, but before we get too excited, in actuality, is it really?

I hate to put a damper on this astounding development or to minimize the strides King Abdullah has taken in support of women, but I can't help but wonder exactly how big of a step this action really is? Now don't get me wrong - I was thrilled when I read the news. But let's face it. Saudi Arabia is a "KINGDOM." Political parties do not exist in Saudi Arabia because they are not allowed. What kind of power are the people in a kingdom like Saudi Arabia really given? Let's examine that.

Do you know how many "elections" there have been in Saudi Arabia's history? Three! These elections have occurred sporadically, about every 30 or 40 years! There were initially elections in 1939, then in the 1950s, and then not again until 2005. And yes, each time only Saudi men were allowed to vote in these elections. Another election had been slated for 2009, but it was cancelled. These are municipal elections that decided local governmental positions - not laws or rights or policies, and certainly not higher up national government positions. Important government positions are all appointed by the King, and most are filled by his closest, most loyal, and most trusted male relatives.

The part of the King's announcement that I was actually more excited to read about was that women would now be appointed to the Shoura Council - which has been made up of 90 male members appointed by the King. However, the Shoura Council serves only as an advisory board and has no real power at all to enact anything. While influential, all they really do is discuss issues and make recommendations. I was pleased when I read that the Shoura Council "applauded" the King for giving women the opportunity to be appointed to the council. I can only hope that the women who will be appointed to these positions will be effective, forward thinking, and will truly represent the issues, needs, and the desires of Saudi women.

King Abdullah was quoted as saying: "Because we refuse to marginalize women in society in all roles that comply with Shariah, we have decided, after deliberation with our senior ulema and others to involve women in the Shoura Council as members, starting from the next term." I just have to ask, exactly what do they think they have been doing all these years, if not "marginalizing" women in KSA society? What about refusing to allow women to drive - isn't that marginalizing women? Or requiring women to have a legal guardian all their lives - marginalizing women or not? Not allowing women to leave the country without her male guardian's approval? Refusing a woman admittance into court without her legal male guardian? Discounting a woman's testimony in court just because she is a woman? Shall I go on?

I remember the excitement in the air when in 2009 the country's first female Deputy Minister of Education, Nora Al Faiz, was appointed with the creation of a newly formed branch specifically for female students. This too was big news because no woman had ever before held a position in Saudi Arabia's government. Controversy immediately arose, however, when the appointee's photo of her uncovered face appeared in the newspaper. Really? Yes, this was scandalous. Many Saudi women wear veils and never show their faces in public. So how does she work with her all male colleagues and underlings in this society where gender mixing, even at work, is prohibited or discouraged by the religion? Why, via closed circuit television, of course! One can only wonder exactly how effective this veiled woman on closed circuit TV can be with this type of set up. But with people focusing on insignificant matters like a photo of her showing her face, instead of the real issues regarding girls' education in Saudi Arabia, how much will she be able to accomplish? Only time will tell.

Also discouraging was the fact that on the very same day this historic proclamation granting Saudi women the right to vote was announced, Saudi activist Najalaa Harir had to appear in court on charges of "driving while female." This is yet another example of how Saudi Arabia famously manages to take "One step forward and two steps back" at the same time.

As I see it, Saudi Arabia still remains very much a man's world. These teeny baby steps come much too slowly for me.

Or as one Saudi woman, alfadlmiranda, tweeted, "Will soon be selling t-shirts in #Saudi that read: Other countries went through the Arab Spring and all i got was this crummy voting right"

Further reading:

Rob L Wagner's post "Saudi Arabia’s Municipal Elections: Tough Lessons Learned from Islamic Conservatives" - an interesting and in depth look at Saudi elections and politics.

TNT Magazine article "Saudi Women Win Right to Vote" - Also TNT photo credit of Saudi women marching with flag

Saudi Woman's post "Prominent Saudis: Mrs. Nora Al Faiz" - written when Al Faiz was newly appointed to her Ministry position.

Arab News: Blogging About the Saudi Experience

2011-09-15T07:13:00.004+03:00

Arab News just published an article which interviewed four female bloggers who blog about Saudi Arabia.

I am honored to be included as one of the four bloggers.

The other three bloggers are my friend Carol at American Bedu, Laylah who writes Blue Abaya, and American Girl, author of Under the Abaya.

It's a really well written article about four women who are at very different points in their lives.

Please have a look.

http://arabnews.com/lifestyle/science_technology/article501623.ece

The National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum

2011-09-14T05:45:00.002+03:00

Fareed Zakaria: A Decade After 9/11

2011-09-12T23:31:00.002+03:00

This explains a lot. Fareed Zakaria talks about a report on the Arab World's standing in the world regarding its wealth, education, governments, women's rights, freedom and other issues. Very interesting.

A Libertarian Vent: Do You Remember 9/11? I Do.

2011-09-11T15:48:00.000+03:00

I found the following essay as I was reading various articles about 9/11. It was written last year on 9/11 by a young man who writes as J-Victus on his blog called "A Libertarian Vent." His understanding of why 9/11 really happened impressed me and I wanted to share it with you...

DO YOU REMEMBER 9/11? I DO.
by J-Victus

I was a kid when a gorgeous Tuesday morning turned into a day of confusion, fear, and anguish. I was the second child picked up at school for an unexpected "doctor's appointment." No school? Great. I walked with a spring in my step down to the office and as I walked out with my mother, her face turned grimmer than when I first saw her and she said, "I won't keep you in the dark. The Twin Towers have been destroyed. We're under attack." In the mid-90s, my family visited the Windows on the World restaurant a few times.

I immediately imagined the people who were up there, and my worldview expanded in a day from Pokemon and yo-yo's to international relations. As I listened to George Bush acknowledge the day's tragedy, I was enraptured with the response he promised to deliver to these killers. I was suddenly an ardent kill-em-all neocon that would make Terry Jones blush. From here I derived a fun motto: "I am a recovered neocon. I was in puberty, what's your excuse?"

Until into 2004, I was aggressive, anti-Muslim, and unapologetically pro-Bush. But I am not an idiot. No WMDs were found. Call me crazy, but that was the reason we were given to invade in the first place. As I watched my elder Americans fall for the script rewrite that declared the objective of the war to be the liberation of the Iraqi people, an anti-government sentiment brewed in me and grew more intense with the week.

I regret only that it took until nearly the end of high school to solidify this universally anti-war position. I wish I could have warned more of my peers about the evils of empire because I did not and do not want to see anyone from my formative years die for our criminal overlords. But it is happening, and will likely get worse.

I find it deeply disturbing that my peers are choosing to serve imperialism. Two recent enlistments are college just-graduates who cannot find jobs in their area of study. Their case is not unique, but is actually a deliberate policy by the criminals in Washington. Known as military Keynesianism, it is the program of offering the military as an "employer of last resort" during economic downturns. The scum who pursue this despicable strategy then tout the lower unemployment rate.

It's a diverse bunch that are going to fight. Another is a former party girl who just recently left for Iraq. Another notable classmate is a young man whose father was killed in the Twin Towers. He is now a skilled marine sniper. His anger is perfectly understandable. I cannot imagine losing a father so young.

But our feelings have no bearing on facts, not even grief. Nine years on, I would tell this young man that the best way to honor his father's memory is to ask and understand why the attack that killed him happened. Warmongers framed the debate in the early years to make it seem that those who questioned aggressive policies were unpatriotic. While emotionally effective in a traumatized nation, it is typical neocon nonsense. Police always investigate the motive of a crime. That does not mean they sympathize with the killing! It's just good detective work.

Osama bin Laden himself told us why he ordered the 9/11 strikes: "Why are we fighting and opposing you? The answer is very simple: Because you attacked us and continue to attack us...Your forces occupy our countries; you spread your military bases throughout them; you corrupt our lands." When he was ignored, he implored Americans to listen to their own intelligence community, which concluded that bin Laden was not lying to himself or to Americans when he explained his motives. It is impossible to leave an honest examination of the facts and history with a pro-war position because a look at reality shows unambiguously that the blame for this strife falls squarely on the United States government.

Yes, America started it. While the Bush gang decries "blaming America for everything," it doesn't change the fact that many terrible events are the fault of American policies. It shouldn't boggle the mind too much. We have a worldwide Empire, and imperial actions will have consequences.

Again and in caps: YES, AMERICA STARTED THIS WAR. Is it not obvious that before the 1950s, the Muslim world had either friendly or no relations with the US? What changed this? Our coup in Iran in 1953. It is a fact of history that the once-arrogant and warmongering British, who were watching their Empire disintegrate in the aftermath of WWII, came whining to the CIA about some kind of communist revolt in Iran when they asserted control over their oil. In response, Operation Ajax overthrew the popular government and installed the tyrannical and hated Shah (just another one of "our bastards"), ensuring continued western control of the oil supply. Of course, the Iranians are a powerful people, not to be underestimated, and they took their nation back not 30 years later.

The aftermath of Operation Ajax was ever-widening US intervention in Muslim countries (Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon, on and on) and unbending support for Israel, which made the Zionist regime all the more aggressive. Deepening parallel to the expanding meddling was Muslim anger seething against the interference. Is this unjustified? How would we react to foreign interference in the United States? What if our nation was occupied (By some army vast enough)? Would we not expect Americans to form militias and build improvised explosive devices? The most patriotic Americans would put the foreign soldiers through daily hell. The longer the occupation lasted, the more angry Americans would get, and with it their capacity for violence would grow. Is anyone deluded enough to think the American people have some unique moral buffer that would restrain the viciousness of any response? My fellow Americans, we still regard the instant murder of 200,000 Japanese civilians an ocean away to have been somehow militarily necessary and morally acceptable, though American generals THEN and soon after decried the evil the attacks brought into the world. So don't make me laugh and say that Americans would show an ounce of mercy to occupiers in their own backyard. Americans are humans and humans are violent, especially angry humans.

Of course foreign-occupied Americans would become enraged, and their actions would mirror that rage. They would kidnap occupying soldiers. They would torture and murder them on video and release the tapes to terrify all others. Don't deny it, my friend. Insurgency fights not the physical army face-to-face, but attempts a deeper assault on the will of its members. Insurgents who fight occupations seek to terrorize the troops who walk on their land. Therefore, it should not be shocking that Iraqi and Afghan insurgents are terrorizing US troops who walk on their land.

Especially since, lest you forget, America started it. Whether we want it or not, blood is on our hands because our tax dollars paid for every bomb that has hit a wedding and every bullet that has ended some bystander's life. And while the blood of those 3000 Americans is on the Al-Qaida thugs who murdered them, also to blame are the officeholders and lobbyists who pursued the unnecessary, stupid, and evil policies that made the attack possible in the first place.

So many Americans see 9/11 as some kind of declaration of war that came out of nowhere. This would be news to a billion Middle Easterners whose memory included 50 years of American intervention. 9/11 was retaliation. It may be hard to accept--indeed it seems that some Americans (Especially those named Hannity, Bolton, or Limbaugh) are simply incapable by nature of accepting this truth--but it is historical fact that five decades of American intervention preceded the destruction of the Twin Towers. While the neocons speak of spreading democracy, all they really spread is horse manure to obscure historical truths that cannot be refuted, but can most certainly be ignored to pursue more war. They have been ignored since the 1950s, they were ignored on September 11th, 2001, and they continue to be ignored as the stupidest war in American history --and likely our last-- is in the making.

So yes, remember 9/11, remember the victims. But the most important thing to remember is why. As I sat in confusion and fear watching over and over the images of devastation that ravaged our country, I asked,"Why?" like millions of my fellow Americans. The answer should be obvious. The CIA explained it and Osama answered us as well. Why were we attacked? Because we attack.

And our countrymen only died in vain if we ensure others will share their fate.

Wham! Bam! Islam!

2011-09-08T22:18:00.006+03:00

Move over, Spiderman and Wolverine! There are some new superheroes in town.

The 99 is a cast of superheroes, each one representing one of the 99 virtues of Islam. They are being brought to the world in the form of colorful high-quality comic books by Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa and will soon be coming to your television screens as an animated series.

Each of The 99's superheroes, who possess a variety of super powers, hails from a different country and are portrayed in both male and female form. The very first episode, called "Origins," goes back in time to the 13th century and depicts an important Islamic library being destroyed. Somehow the 99 virtues of Allah manage to remain preserved. Ensuing issues involve each of the superheroes battling for the cause of good over evil. Al-Mutawa has been vigilant about keeping The 99 free of political overtones. It is important to note that The 99 characters are not all Muslim either. They represent the virtues of Islam, not Islam itself.

But combating crime and evil doers are not the only challenges facing The 99. Saudi Arabia's clerical community has not embraced the idea of The 99 and has forbidden the comic books from entering the country. Comic books have never really been as popular in Muslim countries as they are in other places around the world, and the Islamic world has certainly never endorsed superheroes of any kind. One of Al-Mutawa's wishes is that The 99 will transcend its emphasis on Islam, and that the virtues The 99 extolls will be seen as relevant to every child, no matter what their religion.

On October 2, New York's Lincoln Center will be hosting the New York Film Festival's World Premiere of "The 99 - Unbound."

Mark your calendars for October 13. On that day, PBS will air the documentary "Wham! Bam! Islam!" in the US about Naif Al-Mutawa and his creation of The 99. Check your local listings for the airing time in your area.

The 99 Facebook Page

Newsweek Pakistan article "New Age, New Heroes" (April 2011)

The Atlantic article, "Super Muslims"

9/11 Coloring Book Controversy

2011-08-30T04:20:00.004+03:00

While the publisher of this coloring book for children maintains that it is historically accurate, I can't help but feel that the graphic images are disturbing and inappropriate for children who are young enough for coloring books. Are there other coloring books out there that depict burning buildings and people killing others? Since when did terrorism, death, and violence become suitable fodder for children's coloring books?

This can only serve to worsen the discrimination, hatred, and stereotypes that exist toward Muslims. Aren't there better, less inflammatory, ways of teaching young children about 9/11?

By the way, just last year this same publisher brought American children The Tea Party Coloring Book for Kids.

Sign the petition to discontinue the 9/11 coloring book at Change.org.

Celebrating Ramadan 2011

2011-08-29T21:26:00.001+03:00

Palestinian women stand in front of a window decoration of Islam's crescent moon and star on the eve of Islam's holy fasting month of Ramadan in the West Bank city of Jenin, on July 31, 2011.

(Saif Dahlah/AFP/Getty Images)

As Muslims celebrate the end of Ramadan, their annual holy month of fasting, enjoy this amazing collection of images of Ramadan from around the world - from TheAtlantic.com

Eid Mubarak!

Alicia Ali: A Kinder, Gentler Saudi Arabia

2011-08-23T14:38:00.001+03:00

Alicia Ali's name might sound familiar to you if you are a regular reader of this blog. Back in June of this year, I published an interview with two "Doulas" in Jeddah, and one of them was Alicia Ali. Now I want to introduce you to another side of Alicia - her creative, artistic, and passionate side. Through her colorful, bold art and her ethereal poetry, Alicia's expressions are an inspiration for Saudis and people abroad. She emphasizes "the need to embrace culture and adopt a pluralistic outlook, and encourages Saudis to share their artistic talent with the global community."

A native of Canada with Hijazi roots, Alicia and her Canadian husband have been living in Saudi Arabia for the past ten years. This busy mom of three founded an artists' network in Saudi Arabia called Arabian Jewel, which in collaboration with vital voices, hopes to profile artists (Saudi and non) in the Kingdom. Alicia also offers holistic services and education through her website called Your True Nature.

Noting the negative images that come to mind when people think of KSA, Alicia has a passion to present "the other side" of Saudi Arabia - a kinder, gentler side, if you will. Yet she says it can only be done by when artists work together sharing the same vision. An important part of her work here is to help bridge cultural gaps between expats and locals through the medium of culturalization. Promoting art and culture has served as an excellent tool in the education process. Her carefully selected themes such as love, wine and the soul, to name a few, may raise eyebrows here, yet she says she is adamant in "crossing ideological boundaries through the art of poetic expression in order to achieve a sense of humanistic equilibrium and unity. The hearts and minds open up when words encapsulated in tablets of love touch the soul, a healing effect." All her works are expressions of her personal experience in the "Land of Love," which is the title of a poem she wrote and recites in the video below.

If you are an artist in the Kingdom and would like to get your work profiled, Alicia welcomes you to contact her personally at: essentialfitra@yahoo.ca

Alicia Ali, artist for non-violence from Tayie Rehem on Vimeo.

Embrace Culture ... A Poem by Alicia Ali

To embrace culture is to embrace humanity
Embrace humanity and live in harmony
To achieve harmony within humanity
Is to live in a state of Unity
We are one human family
With all our diversities apparent and hidden
In essence we all come from the first man.

The Bravest Man in Saudi Arabia

2011-08-12T12:56:00.000+03:00

Who is the bravest man in Saudi Arabia?

Many Saudis say that it is Khaled Al-Johani, a 40-year-old school teacher and father who has been languishing in a Saudi prison since March. His crime was speaking out in favor of freedom and democracy to a BBC News crew on the much touted (but fizzled) "Day of Rage" earlier this year on March 11 in Saudi Arabia. Although hundreds of protesters demonstrated in several cities in the Eastern Province of the country, Khaled Al-Johani is the only known person who actually showed up in the designated spot in the country's capital city of Riyadh to voice his opinions and his desires for change regarding the future of Saudi Arabia. An overwhelmingly strong and well armed police presence, along with threats of jail or loss of citizenship, discouraged other citizens from participating in the planned Day of Rage. In fact, no one at all in KSA's second largest city, Jeddah, took part. Criticism of the Saudi government is not permitted and is met with harsh consequences. While many Saudi citizens might agree with what Khaled said, they are too afraid of speaking out for fear of being jailed, tortured, or worse.

I am re-posting the below video called "Where is Khaled?" to keep his story alive. Khaled's family was not allowed any contact with him for almost two months. In May family members were allowed to visit him in prison and reported that "he had lost weight and was depressed." As far as I have read about the case, he is being detained as a political prisoner without any legal recourse.

In the video, Khaled says, "We need democracy. We need freedom. We need to speak freely. The government doesn't own us. There is no free media under a monarchy state. The media cannot report freely. They only report the statements of the Ministry of the Interior. They didn't expect that anyone in Saudi Arabia will dare to speak to the media because he or she will be jailed. We don't have freedom. We don't have dignity. We don't have justice. The whole world is free except us under this country."

My personal experience living in Saudi Arabia tells me that Saudis love their country and are extremely proud of their country. Khaled spoke out because he loves his country and wants it to be even better. Is this wrong? Should he be jailed for wanting his country to be better? A country that doesn't allow criticism of its government or policies is an oppressive government.

AOL News Article, "Imprisoned Father of Autistic Boy Called 'the Bravest Man in Saudi Arabia'"

Saudi Arabian security forces quell 'day of rage' protests (Guardian.co.uk)

Ramadan Kareem

2011-08-01T00:29:00.004+03:00

As Muslims around the world began this holy month of Ramadan, I wish all my Muslim friends and family peace, love, and prosperity.
Ramadan Kareem.

Thelma & Louise - Saudi Version

2011-07-30T02:08:00.001+03:00

Up in Smoke

2011-07-25T04:27:00.005+03:00

A spectacular fire on July 9, 2011, of a Jeddah six-story office building that totally destroyed the structure has raised questions about a dubious policy that many Saudi employers follow. Ravaging the twin towers of Alesayi Plaza near Madinah Road, the blazing inferno also destroyed some 17,000 foreign passports belonging to expatriate workers employed by companies such as Panasonic, Moulinex, and over 60 other businesses which were housed in the complex. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

It is the policy of many employers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to confiscate the passports of workers and hold them until the employees leave the country. Unfortunately this policy has paved the way for many abuses to occur within the system with potentially disastrous ramifications, such as slavery, blackmail, withholding pay, and inability of workers to switch their employment to another company within Saudi Arabia.

There is no law in Saudi Arabia which requires workers to surrender their passports to their employers, however some companies falsely claim that they are following the law by holding their employees’ passports or may simply say that it is company policy. Companies explain that keeping workers’ passports is their way of protecting their investment by bringing workers into the country. The Kingdom requires that foreign workers have a legal sponsor, which would be the Saudi company they work for. According to Saudi law, workers are allowed to freely change jobs or employers and to change their sponsorship, however there is no government entity to ensure that foreign workers rights are protected.

For many foreign workers who had plans to leave the country, their departures will likely be delayed. This unfortunate event should be a wake-up call for the Saudi government to take control of this serious situation and enforce policy regarding the possession of foreign workers’ passports.

Related Arab News articles:

“Jeddah's Alesayi Plaza gutted by fire” – published July 9, 2011

“Second Alesayi tower on verge of collapse” – published July 10, 2011

“Alesayi fire burned 17,000 passports” – published July 18, 2011

“Your company is keeping your passport illegally” – published July 21, 2011

Photo Credits: Arab News and Abdul Sami Naik.

Reel Bad Arabs

2011-07-19T10:11:00.000+03:00

Hollywood has contributed for decades to promoting the images of negative and demeaning stereotypes of Blacks, Native American Indians, Asians, and other ethnic groups, including Arabs. While taking aim at many of these groups may have become politically incorrect in today's society, the assault on the representation of Arabs in movies continues. Even Disney's Aladdin, which targets a younger audience, contains sordid and biased images, songs and dialogue that can effectively taint children's attitudes towards Arabs. The opening song of the movie Aladdin, sung by an Arab bad guy, includes these lyrics: "I come from a land, from a faraway place where the caravan camels roam, where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face - it's barbaric, but hey, it's home." What's a child to assume when hearing this?

In the early days of Hollywood, as far back as the 1920s, Arabs have been portrayed as "thieves, charlatans, murderers, and brutes." Many movies often just throw in unseemly Arab characters or negative references to Arabs, despite the movies' plots or themes having anything at all to do with Arabs or the Middle East, such as 1985's film Back to the Future and 1995's Father of the Bride 2. Arabs are often depicted as heartless savages to fill the antagonists' roles when the plotline calls for bad guys.

"I think whenever we see anyone being villified on a regular basis, we have to speak up whether we are image makers or not. We have to take a stand and say this is morally and ethically wrong to demonize a people," says Dr. Jack Shaheen, author of Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People.

Dr. Shaheen appears in the video below in this short synopsis of the film documentary based on his book.

If you are interested in seeing the full length documentary in its entirety, it has been broken down into several parts, each about 10 minutes long. Here are the links:

Part 1 - Reel Bad Arabs Documentary
Part 2 - Reel Bad Arabs Documentary
Part 3 - Reel Bad Arabs Documentary
Part 4 - Reel Bad Arabs Documentary
Part 5 - Reel Bad Arabs Documentary

Hollywood and Washington are forever linked in the movies. It's natural for Hollywood to produce movies about certain historical events. But what about movies that are just for pure entertainment? Is there a correlation between the large percentage of Hollywood power players being Jewish and the consistently negative portrayals of Arabs in the movies? (Joel Stein wrote this interesting op-ed piece about this topic.) Have we just become so conditioned to seeing this type of thing in the movies that it has made us insensitive to the harm that these stereotypes can do? Is Hollywood being irresponsible with its continuous negative depictions of Arabs in the movies?

Reel Bad Arabs website.

My Niece Louisa in the Sahara

2011-07-07T02:36:00.005+03:00

My niece Louisa, a university student, is spending part of this summer in Morocco taking an intensive Arabic language course. She started blogging about her experiences on her blog called "On the Streets of Fes." Her latest entry, "A Trip to the Sahara," is an interesting account of a trip to the Sahara with great photos which I thought you would find interesting...

This weekend turned out to be the most amazing weekend of my life. It was the Sahara Trip, which was organized by the school so about 30 students all went. We drove about 7 hours through the Moroccan country side which was amazing in itself. Our destination for the day was a luxury hotel in the middle of nowhere. At this point in the program, everyone was hot, tired, and a little bit sick of their homestays. This hotel was absolutely amazing. It had two pools, a disco, and real showers. The food was amazing and we pretty much had the hotel to ourselves. After a night of drinking and swimming, we were able to sleep in and then the next morning we took off again for our second destination. We stopped at the Kasbah Tombocktu and swam while we waited for the sun to get lower in the sky.

Around 6 pm, we started loading onto the camels. Please take into account that camels are not the most beautiful animals and they also make odd sounds. Once I put one leg up onto my camel, it immediately stood up, which caused me to lurch forward to the top of its back. Finally I was settled and I tried to ignore the camel behind me which was slobbering on my leg. Camels are extremely uncomfortable to ride and they are roped together in groups of 3-5 with a Berber man walking in front.

The Sahara is amazing. The red and yellow sand in huge dunes around you for as far as you can see. There are snake and scorpion tracks in the sand and when we stopped to watch the sunset, we climbed one of the dunes and took in the beauty around us.

We reached the Berber Oasis shortly after sunset and were welcomed to rugs laid out on the sand with tents in a circle. The Berbers served us tea and a few of us climbed up the huge sand dune behind the camp in hopes of sand skiing. We ate dinner at ridiculously short tables and then listened to some of the Berbers drum and sing. Since we were in the middle of the desert, there were no lights except for the candles set up around the camp. This way, we could see thousands of stars. The entire Milky Way was visible and there was no moon, which made it especially dark. We started dancing to the Berber drums and I was extremely happy. After, a few of us sat down with some of the Berber guys and started to talk. I realized they all spoke Spanish so I was thrilled that I could communicate with them. I met Asou, who was 21 and lived in the larger town near the hotel. He has been leading camel treks for 10 years in the Sahara and knew about 5 languages just by listening to visitors in the desert.

My friend Gabrielle and I made our way out to the “bathroom” and on our way back, we ran into Asou and another Berber guy. They explained that they were about to climb the dune behind us which was about 600 meters and made completely of sand. Gabrielle and I looked at each other, shrugged, and followed these guys up the side of the mountain. At this time, it was pitch dark, none of us were wearing shoes, and the dune was just about as steep as possible. Every step you took, you slid down another step. After about an hour or an hour and a half, we reached the top. The view was absolutely breathtaking. Since this was the tallest dune for miles and miles, you could see everything. To the North, there was a small town with lights. To the South, hundreds of meters below us, was the camp, which was impossible to see because it was very late at night and all the lights were out. To the East, you could see the black mountains that made the Algerian border and to the West, you could see the dunes going on and on for hundreds of miles.

It was the most incredible experience being able to stand on the very tip of this dune, by ourselves and get caught up in the Sahara wind watching hundreds of shooting stars. We spent the entire night up there, walking on the ridges of the dunes and learning words in the Berber language. At 4:20am, the mosque in the town to the North announced the call to prayer. This consisted of a flashing light from the mosque and the call which you could faintly here through the wind. Around 4:30 am, the guys had to head down the mountain to start getting the camels ready because the sun was about to rise. We sat up there as other students from our camp slowly made their way up to where we were sitting. They were amazed and jealous that we had spent the night up here and watching the sunrise was incredible sitting there with all of our friends. After the sun rose, we quickly jumped and slid down the mountain so that we could get back before the heat set in. I was so tired on the camel ride back that I actually fell asleep at one point, which I thought was impossible. We arrived at the hotel, showered and ate, and then started the long drive back to Fes. As I am writing this, I am sore everywhere, dehydrated, and exhausted but I am extremely lucky to have had this experience and I will never experience my night on the top of the dune for as long as I live.

To see more photos from Louisa's trip and to read more about her experiences so far, please check out her blog, "On the Streets of Fes."

TIME Magazine: Road Warriors

2011-06-26T11:52:00.003+03:00

The topic of women being denied the right to drive in Saudi Arabia has finally taken center stage in world news, with Saudi women united in the act of peaceful civil disobediance by getting behind the wheel since June 17. Although more and more women have been revving their engines along the streets of Saudi Arabia since that day, most have managed to drive unbothered by police - a far cry from just last month when Manal al-Sharif was thrown in jail for ten days because she dared to drive in this male dominated society. Driving is just the tip of the iceberg regarding the glaring lack of equality for women's rights in this country. The July 4th issue of TIME Magazine published an article written by Aryn Baker about the driving issue:

When Maha al-Qatani settles into the driver's seat of her family's baby blue humvee these days, she goes through a familiar routine: a glance in the rearview mirror to ensure that her headscarf and face veil are on right; a whispered prayer; and a reassuring pat of her Coach handbag, stuffed with all the essentials for a possible prison stay — toothbrush, deodorant, comfortable clothes and prayer rug.

She may need them. On June 17, al-Qatani made history by becoming the first woman in Saudi Arabia to receive a traffic ticket. She sees it as a badge of honor, proving that she defied a prohibition on women driving in the kingdom and, she hopes, paving the way for more women to do the same. Still, the possibility of prison remains. "If no one sacrifices, no one will get their rights," al-Qatani said on the day of her maiden drive in Saudi Arabia.

In one of the most peculiar revolts to have been inspired by the Arab uprisings, al-Qatani and dozens of other women have taken to the streets — not on foot but behind the wheel. They are leaving their drivers at home and heading out on their own to the grocery store or to the doctor or to pick up their kids from school. Those thankless errands may plague women around the world, but for some in Saudi Arabia they are a long-dreamed-of freedom. "What these women are doing is brave, and what they are seeking is right," said U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of the protests.

Saudi Arabia — with its vast, unpopulated deserts, low-slung architecture and cheap oil — is a country made for cars. The capital city, Riyadh, is bigger than Los Angeles and has no public-transportation system. So women rely on male family members to get around or hire immigrant drivers at considerable cost.

Reforms in the 1960s opened the way for female education; now women make up 58% of the university population. But that achievement is not matched in the workplace, where women account for less than 15% of the labor force, mostly in the education and medical sectors. The government is urging private businesses to hire more women — under conditions designed to prevent mixing between unrelated men and women — but it is hard to see how that will happen if they can't drive to work. Many middle-class families see little incentive to let their daughters and wives work if they end up spending their salaries on drivers. Architect Nadia Bakhurji estimates that she spends an extra 25% in overhead just providing cars and drivers for the female staff at her firm. It's a sacrifice she is willing to make, she says, but in most other businesses, "it becomes a barrier to hiring women."

Read the rest of this TIME Magazine article by clicking here.

My Fellow American

2011-06-22T05:59:00.000+03:00

I know from personal experience and from just watching the news every day that many Americans hold ALL Muslims responsible for 9/11, spread lies and misinformation about Islam, and have no desire to know or learn about Muslims. The Mission of "My Fellow American" is to combat Islamophobia, to try to change the preconceived misconceptions and to get Americans to realize that the vast majority of American Muslims are just like you and me.

"Muslims are our fellow Americans, who today face threats to their civil rights and even their personal safety because of the fearful and often hateful rhetoric that would not be tolerated were it uttered about any other minority group." - from the "My Fellow American" website "About" page

The following short video is effective, poignant, and gives lots of food for thought.

For more information about the My Fellow American Project and to find out what you can do, click here.

Kuwaiti Bimbo Wants Return of Sex Slaves

2011-06-21T05:45:00.006+03:00

I guess I was paying too much attention to Anthony Weiner's wiener story to notice when the subject of this post broke two weeks ago about a Kuwaiti Muslim woman who sees no problem at all with legalizing sex slavery in Kuwait.

In her twisted mind, Salwa al-Mutairi, a well-known television hostess and a thankfully unsuccessful candidate for the Kuwaiti Parliament, illogically rationalizes that sex slavery is perfectly acceptable in Islam. She claims that it is a way to legitimize men's sexual relations outside of marriage without it being considered a sin, thereby preventing adultery. Not missing a beat, al-Mutairi further suggested in a recent video that imprisoned non-Muslim Western women from war-torn countries like Chechnya could be kidnapped and considered the spoils of war and could be sold as sex slaves to fill the needs of lusty sex-crazed Kuwaiti Muslim men. And not only that, she also went on to say that these poor women should happily welcome their new roles as sex slaves instead of starving to death in prisons. (I swear I'm not making this up!)

To give credence to her argument, al-Mutairi cited the example of Harun al-Rashid, the renowned Caliph of Baghdad, who ruled there from 786 to 809. Harun al-Rashid’s escapades became legendary in the tales of the "Thousand and One Arabian Nights,” where it is said that when he died, he had acquired a whopping 2000 concubines. Justifying her opinion with the al-Rashid illustration, al-Mutairi said, “I don’t see any problem in this, no problem at all.”

Al-Mutairi's irrational arguments for promoting sex slaves for Muslim men only further demonstrates the great chasm in the disparity of the attitude that exists between stereotypical radical Muslims and the rest of the world. In fact, this latest outrageous idea of hers has been called “a gift to Muslim haters,” has provided juicy fodder for Islamophobes, and has caused al-Mutairi to be labeled “Kuwait’s version of Ann Coulter.” Bloggers and Tweeters have labeled al-Mutairi “a disgrace to women everywhere,” suggested that she herself be treated like war booty and become a sex slave, and have attacked her declaration that sex slaves are acceptable in Islam, which is a disputable topic of debate .

Clearly this backward Kuwaiti bimbo is doing no favors for Islam or Muslims everywhere, not to mention how her opinion sets back the slow moving vision of progress for women’s rights in the Middle East region. No doubt the vast majority of Muslims don’t agree with this moronic woman. It’s just unfortunate that she’s the one getting all the attention.

Here are some additional articles and opinion pieces about this story:

Salwa al-Mutairi: A Gift to Muslim-Haters - by Shelina Zahra Janmohamed (Mideast Posts)

The curious case of the woman who thinks sex slaves will stop Arab men from committing adultery – by Muna Khan (Al Arabiya News)

Muslim Woman Seeks to Revive Institution of Sex-Slavery – by Raymond Ibrahim (Middle East Forum - FrontPageMagazine.com)

Female activist calls for legalizing sex slavery – by A Saleh (Kuwait Times)

Men should be allowed sex slaves and female prisoners could do the job - and all this from a WOMAN politician from Kuwait (Mail Online - DailyMail.co.uk)

Ahmed Al Omran's NPR Article on Saudi Women Driving

2011-06-20T12:25:00.005+03:00

Ahmed Al Omran is a young Saudi journalist whose voice is loud, strong and respected in Saudi Arabia and around the world. With a degree in journalism from Columbia University, Ahmed's writings have appeared in various worldwide publications. In 2004, Ahmed began writing his popular blog "Saudi Jeans," which focuses on current events and his views pertaining to political and social issues in Saudi Arabia. The following article written by Ahmed appeared on NPR.org and has first hand accounts and sound clips of several Saudi women who got behind the wheel on June 17 and took to the streets in Saudi Arabia, where women are banned from driving.

'A Historical Moment': The Saudi Women Challenging A Government By Driving
By Ahmed Al Omran

Fridays in Riyadh are usually slow and lazy, as the sprawling city only begins to wake up after the noon prayers. But this past Friday, a women's rights issue that's been brewing for decades spilled onto the streets.

Thursday, June 16, Najla Barasain wasn't sure if she would get behind the wheel. The 25-year-old had been driving her Kia Optima sedan for the past 10 months in Greensboro, N.C., where she goes to school. Barasain is pursing a master's degree in business administration there, but was back in Saudi Arabia for her summer break.

She read accounts on social media sites of other women who had driven their cars and that encouraged her. She felt she had to make a statement on this day. She told her father who was reluctant because he didn't want to get in trouble. But eventually he agreed to sit in the passenger seat and let his daughter drive.

To continue reading this article and hear the sound clips, click here to go to the NPR site.

DWF - Driving While Female

2011-06-17T23:48:00.008+03:00

“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves." ~ Abraham Lincoln

Today, June 17, 2011, marks the day that women in Saudi Arabia planned to begin their peaceful protest against an unfair ban against "Driving While Female" in the conservative desert kingdom. There have been reports from all over the country about women who hold valid international drivers' licenses taking their rightful places behind the wheels with the support and blessings of their husbands and fathers. At the same time it appears as though the police are confused as to what their course of action should be, especially after the unpopular decision to jail Manal Al-Sharif, a young Saudi mother, for ten days in May 2011 for her crime of Driving While Female.

Disabling half the population of the country is a bad policy on so many levels:

• The added expense to families who must hire drivers is not cost effective, especially when women are perfectly capable of driving themselves.

• Importing droves of foreign males to act as private family drivers and taxi drivers presents a variety of potential problems for the Saudi women who are supposedly prohibited from driving for their own safety.

• Placing a Saudi woman in the company of a man driver who is not part of her family is totally against the teachings of Islam, which calls for unrelated men and women not to be alone together to prevent inappropriate contact from taking place.

• Those families who cannot afford drivers or choose not to have them suffer greatly due to the added stress on the male members of the family who must chauffeur the women around besides working their regular paid jobs.

• The women also suffer from the inconvenience of having to rely/impose on male family members just to take them to school, work, shopping, or to visit friends or relatives.

• In emergency situations, Saudi women are forced to choose between saving a loved one's life by driving or by obeying the law of the land and possibly watching their loved one die.

The reasons for why disallowing women from driving is such a bad policy are too numerous to mention here, while the excuses for keeping this policy ban in effect range from feeble, outdated, unfair, and illogical, to downright ridiculous.

The world has finally sat up and taken notice of this infringement of Saudi women's rights. There have been countless newspaper articles reporting on the situation and numerous online groups and videos supporting Saudi women in their quest to obtain this very basic function of living a normal life.

The Current Radio Program, CBC Radio featuring an interview with Saudi Blogger Eman Al-Nafjan

Facebook Group "Yes 2 Women Driving in Saudi Arabia"

Saudi Women Defy Driving Ban

Saudi Arabia Women Test Driving Ban

Saudi Women Drivers Take the Wheel on June 17

Saudi Arabia Women Drive Cars in Protest at Ban

Saudi Women Challenge Male-Only Driving Rules

YouTube videos "Honk for Saudi Women"

YouTube videos of "Saudi Women Driving"

Women Who Drove in KSA in 1990

Those who are against allowing women to drive in Saudi Arabia at this point will probably never be ready for it and will never change their minds. But it is obvious to me after my short time in the kingdom these past few years that those who are in favor of lifting the ban have found their voices and are ready for this to happen.

"Driving While Female" should not be considered a crime anywhere in the world.

What will Saudi Arabia do?

PeePee and VaJayJay Airport Design Comes Under Fire

2011-06-08T01:02:00.007+03:00

When you watch this video, you might think that this is a big joke or a comedy sketch, but what's really sad about this is that this Saudi religious cleric is totally serious. I've said before that many men in Saudi Arabia, including the religious leaders, seem to equate everything in the world somehow to sex and see phallic symbols everywhere. The strict segregation of the sexes here creates depraved and unhealthy views about sex. I'm sure that there wouldn't be such an obsession and focus on sex here in the Kingdom if the men weren't so sexually repressed. Reasons for why women can't drive, reasons for this and reasons for that - everything always seems to boil down to sex. This video gives you an idea of the type of twisted thinking there is in something as simple as the design of a proposed new airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. There is also a tie-in to this being a Western conspiracy as well. Oh brother!

Here is the website for the new King Abdulaziz International Airport project.

Doulas in Jeddah

2011-06-06T22:32:00.002+03:00

We’ve all probably heard of Midwives and know what their function is, but have you ever heard of “Doulas?” I recently learned about Doulas from Alicia Ali and Dayle Valenzuela, two young women who provide Doula services in Jeddah. They were kind enough to answer my questions.

Susie: Exactly what is a Doula and what does a Doula do?

Dayle: A Doula is a trained child birth professional. She is usally a mother herself, and offers her services to help aid women before, during, and after childbirth. A Doula is there to offer information to the mother prenatally, and help her figure out what kind of birth she wants. The Doula usually assists the mother at the onset of labor, and accompanies her wherever she chooses to birth. Doulas are trained in recognizing the needs of a laboring woman, and provide emotional and physical support to her.

Alicia: Most often the word Doula is referring to the birth Doula, or labor support companion, but there is also the antepartum Doula and the postpartum Doula. Most Doula and client relationships begin a few months before the baby is due. During this time, they establish a relationship that gives the mother complete freedom to ask questions, express fears and concerns, and take an active role in creating a birth plan. Most Doulas make themselves available to the mother by phone to answer questions or explain any developments that may arise in pregnancy.

Doulas do not provide any type of medical care. However, they are knowledgeable in the medical aspect of labor and delivery so they can help their clients get a better understanding of procedures and complications that may arise in late pregnancy or during delivery. During delivery, Doulas are in constant, close proximity to the mother at all times. They can provide comfort with pain relief techniques, such as breathing, relaxing, massage and laboring positions. Doulas also encourage participation from the partner and offer reassurance. A Doula acts as an advocate for the mother, encouraging her in her desires for her birth. The goal of a Doula is to help the mother have a positive and safe birth experience, whether the mother wants an un-medicated birth or is having a planned cesarean birth.

Susie: Are there different kinds of Doulas?

Dayle: Yes. The two main types of Doulas are birth and postpartum Doulas. A birth Doula attends the mother during her labor, whereas a post partum Doula assists the mother after childbirth.

Alicia: Antepartum Doulas provide help and support to a mom who has been put on bed rest or is experiencing a high risk-pregnancy.
Postpartum Doulas are there to support you in your first weeks of being a mom. They provide informational support about feeding and caring for the baby. They provide physical support by cleaning, cooking meals and filling in when mom needs a break, and they provide emotional support by encouraging a mom during those times when she feels overwhelmed.
Labour Doulas are trained women who will stay with you throughout labor and birth.
A Doula also provides emotional support, physical comfort measures, an objective viewpoint and assistance in getting the information she needs to help the mother make empowered decisions throughout her pregnancy.

Susie: How long have you been a Doula and what interested you in becoming one?

Alicia: I have been practising as a Doula for 10 years, including 7 years of post training and 3 years of pre-training. My interest began after my second child. I was fortunate to have a Doula for all three of my children, yet after delivering my second child, I was asked by my brother to ‘be there for support’ for his first baby. At that time, I had just delivered 3weeks prior and could not refuse. It was a success and the couple highly valued my presence. This triggered my personal interest to take professional doula training. Finally during my third pregnancy when I was 7 months pregnant, an opportunity came up for training in Canada.

Dayle: I've been a Doula for over a year and half now. The main reason I chose to become a Doula is due to my own childbirth experiences. I experienced a very difficult labor and delivery with my first child. The type of birth I got was not at all what I was planning, and I greatly regretted not choosing to hire a Doula. I was determined after that to help other mothers avoid some of the things that made my birth and pospartum experience difficult. With my second pregnancy I hired a Doula, and it made a huge difference! I had completely natural birth, and it was honestly the best day of my life.

Susie: What type of training does a Doula have?

Dayle: A Doula is usually trained by an overseeing organization. I was trained in Phoenix, AZ, by a Midwife to be a Birth Trust Doula. There are several organizations that a Doula can choose from.

Alicia: Workshops are mainly conducted by Doula Trainers. Workshops styles vary; some can be done over a couple of days. CAPPA and DONA are popular Doula certifying bodies. Each organization has their own minimal requirements as far as training is concerned. This may be found on their respective websites.

Susie: What are some of the benefits of hiring a Doula?

Dayle: Studies have shown time and again that Doula-attended births have lower incidence of harmful interventions such as episiotomies, vacuum extractions, c-sections, forceps delivery, and the list goes on. Mothers who chose to hire a Doula have also reported increased satisfaction in their childbirth experience.

Alicia: In all the above studies, the Doulas used soothing words, touch and encouragement. They explained the procedures as they occurred and translated medical terms into laymen's terms. The results of the studies were as follows:
• Reduced the overall cesarean rate by 50%
• Reduced the length of labor by 25%
• Reduced oxytocin use by 40%
• Reduced the use of pain medication by 30%
• Reduced forceps deliveries by 40%
• Reduced requests for epidural pain medication by 60%
• Reduced incidences of maternal fever
• Reduced the number of days newborns spent in NICU (neo-natal infant care unit)
• Reduced the amount of septic workups performed on newborns
• Resulted in higher rates of breastfeeding
• Resulted in more positive maternal assessments of maternal confidence
• Resulted in more positive maternal assessments of maternal and newborn health
• Resulted in decreased rates of postpartum depression
Klaus and Kennel speculate that the mere presence of a Doula had a beneficial effect on the emotional state of the mother, resulting in a decrease in catecholamines (adrenaline). This relaxed state allows uterine contractions to be more effective and reduces the occurrence of compromised uterine blood flow.

Susie: How do Doulas differ from Midwives?

Alicia: Doulas are non-clinical whereas Midwives are clinically qualified.

Dayle: Often times Midwives are busy making notes on the mother’s chart, checking the mother for dilation, her blood pressure, listening to fetal heart tones, etc. Doulas are not involved in any of these tasks, which allows the Doula to only focus on the mothers needs. Having a Doula as part of your birth team ensures that no matter what takes place during labor and delivery the mother always has the emotional and physical support she needs to cope.

Susie: For what period of time are Doulas' services generally required?

Alicia: Prenatal period and Postnatal (a few weeks) are popular choices for mothers and families.

Dayle: I encourage mothers to contact me early in their pregnancies. This allows us to get to know each other, as birth is a very intimate experience. However most mothers do not begin looking for a Doula until they are in their third trimester, and that's fine too. Once the mother has chosen to hire me, I'm there for her until after she delivers. I usually have one follow up visit with the mother around 2 weeks postpartum to help answer any questions the mother may be having and to provide resources.

Susie: How do fathers generally feel about the presence of Doulas?

Dayle: Overall the response from fathers is overwhelmingly positive! For those fathers who choose to take an active role in helping his wife cope with labor, I usually take a back seat role, offering suggestions to the father on how he can support his wife, and giving him a break when needed. For those fathers who are squeamish about childbirth or do not wish to participate for cultural reasons, they are usually relieved to know that their wife is being well cared for and looked after.

Alicia: Doulas lessen the stress of fathers during birth. A big stress for many partners is feeling they need to support the mother during the birth and advocate for her, while at the same time, the father has as many emotional needs and worries as the mother has. Also, the hospital environment can be intimidating itself, with nurses walking in and out, and the doctor usually not being around to answer many questions. Fathers end up with a positive experience and a feeling of being there to support his wife during birth thus strengthening the bond between the couple. It is common for dads to ‘chicken out’ as they feel too much stress on them and the couple ends up opting for a mother or sister to be present during the mother’s delivery, thus leaving the father to be totally out of the picture.

Susie: What other services do you offer?

Alicia: A unique part of the services is I offer through Your True Nature is a Complete online Birth Education Course. This is an amazing and truly empowering self paced course with unique content ranging from natural birth techniques, breathing, natural healing, prenatal yoga, etc. In the Kingdom, we lack prenatal education options through hospitals, and have a shortage of trained instructors, thus, this is an ideal solution for many. This e-course is practical for internet savvy mothers who lack access to classes, support and information such as books or are living in remote areas. There are a total of 7 Modules. More information is available at: http://yourtruenature1.wordpress.com/courses-and-education/Doula-services/distance-support-Doula-service/

Dayle: I've just started a new Facebook group caled "Caring Moms of Saudi Arabia" for mothers who can network with one another to help each other through difficult times. The idea for this group came to me when I heard from a friend who had recently given birth and was struggling to care for her three small kids all by herself. She needs a caring Mom to come bring her a few meals and to help out with her kids so she can take a nap. Most expat mothers in KSA don't have their family close by to help out and are very isolated. This way we can be a support system for each other, both physically and emotionally and fill that void.

Susie: Where can women find out more information about your services and how can they contact you?

Dayle: My website is - http://jeddahdoula.webs.com/
And my Email is - dayle.valenzuela@yahoo.com

Alicia: Here’s my website - http://ytnature.com/
and here’s my Email - essentialfitra@yahoo.ca

Susie: Thank you both so much for taking the time to answer these questions. It’s been enlightening.

Thanks also to my friend Kacy, who gave me permission to use these beautiful photos of her handsome baby boy Mazen for this special post.

Honk for Saudi Women

2011-06-06T06:58:00.003+03:00

Upload your own "Honk for Saudi Women" video to YouTube and then email the URL to: honkforsaudiwomen@gmail.com - make some noise by honking for Saudi women!

Manal Speaks

2011-06-02T03:45:00.001+03:00

Thirty-two year-old Manal al-Sharif was released from a women's detention facility in Al Khobar a few days ago, after spending about ten days behind bars. She would not have been arrested or been the subject of worldwide news coverage and debate if women were allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia. Women are prohibited from driving in this country and must rely on male members of their family to drive them around to work, to shop, or to the doctor. Saudi women who can afford it are forced to employ foreign male drivers or must hire taxis driven by men to take them where they need to go, even though these practises actually violate Islamic law. In Saudi Arabia, unrelated men and women are forbidden from being in alone together in closed company to prevent intimate sexual encounters or inappropriate actions such as kissing, touching, or hugging between men and women who are not married or related to each other.

This Arab News article details her release from jail but what is even more interesting and distressing are the ignorant comments in response to the article from those who are against women driving in KSA. While the majority of comments express total support for Manal and for the rights of the women of Saudi Arabia, those against reveal the backward mentality of the minority who wish to keep Saudi women shut in at home under man's control.

The following is the English translation of Manal Al-Sharif's statement on release from detention. I can only wonder about the sincerity of these words and feel that Manal was coerced into making this statement as a condition of her release...

I would first and foremost like to express my profound gratitude to our leaders, in particular the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, for ordering my release from detention, a gesture that does not come as a surprise knowing the King’s benevolence toward his sons and daughters in this honorable country.

Concerning the topic of women’s driving, I will leave it up to our Leader in whose discretion I entirely trust, to weigh the pros and cons and reach a decision that will take into consideration the best interests of the People, while also being pleasing to Allah, and in line with Divine Law.

On this happy occasion, I would also like to affirm that never in my life had I been anything beside a Muslim, Saudi woman who aspires to remain in God’s good graces and to safeguard the reputation of our beloved country. And I will continue to uphold these values and principles until the day I meet my Creator whose compassion, and King Abdullah’s big heart, has helped me to persevere through my short-lived ordeal.

That said, I was stunned to learn of the accusations hurled at my religious and moral beliefs especially that they originated from individuals I least expected to go down that route. I held my breath for those speaking in the name of religion and others-May Allah guide them rightly-to do me some justice, and that if I had done wrong to blame me only accordingly and fairly, without defaming my faith, creed, and moral system. For at the end of the day I’m everyone’s sister and daughter. Yet how could they wound their sister and daughter with such charges? From the bottom of my heart though I beseech Allah to shower on them his forgiveness for the serious harm they’ve caused me.

Furthermore, I must point out I do not authorize any individual to speak on my behalf or put words in my mouth, whatever their personal agenda.

Finally, I pray for the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness. He is Most Compassionate, Most Merciful.

Translated by Zaki Safar (@safarzo)

May 30, 2011

Why Women Can't Drive

2011-05-31T22:41:00.004+03:00

This is another satirical video created by fellow blogger Aafke, a talented Danish artist. While Saudi activist Manal al-Sharif was released from jail as of yesterday - she was arrested and jailed for driving a car in Saudi Arabia where women are forbidden from driving - this video is relevant in highlighting the absurd reasons given for not allowing women to drive in Saudi Arabia and supporting the cause of lifting the ban. Thank you again, Aafke.

Expatriates and Loyalty

2011-05-30T19:52:00.006+03:00

As an ex-pat living in Saudi Arabia, all too often I hear complaining about the treatment and attitudes of each other from both Saudis and foreign workers. I was taken aback when I first read the following op-ed piece written by retired Saudi naval officer, Abdulateef Al-Mulhim.

During my early years, I saw very few expatriates — Americans working for Aramco, Germans working for Phillip-Hollzmann, Indians and Pakistanis working in hospitals and the Alhassa electric company.

But by the end of 1973, the Saudi demography changed forever. Oil prices rose sharply and the Kingdom had the biggest economic boom and the largest infrastructure projects in modern history. The mega projects during the 1970s required hundreds of thousands of skilled and non-skilled workers. The doors of Saudi Arabia were wide open.

Now, we have 8 million expatriates, Muslims, non-Muslims, Arabs and non-Arabs. Expatriates entered our closed doors and closed society. In the past some small towns never saw a foreign man or woman except in some magazines. Nowadays, every home, hospital, company and school has many expatriates.

But, how about the loyalty of the 8 million expatiates to the Kingdom? Should we be worried about them? During the past 20 years, the loyalty of the expatriates was put to the most stressful test. The first was in August 1990 during the invasion of Kuwait. Then there were sudden terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia a few years after the 9/11 attacks in the US.

In both cases, the expatriates showed an amazing and genuine loyalty to the Kingdom. During Desert Shield and Desert Storm, only very few expatriates left the Kingdom and some left because they already had scheduled their leave and simply took it earlier or extended it. But, we have to understand their motives. And during the peak of the war, we saw expatriates from the Arab world, Philippines, India, Pakistan and Western countries who were ready to die for Saudi Arabia. And nobody forced them to stay. Some Saudi embassies abroad received calls from former employees who worked in the Kingdom, and they offered to fly to the Kingdom to defend it. No one asked them to do so, but they stayed loyal to our Kingdom.

Former Saudi Aramco employees in the US were the most effective public relations means for the Kingdom when Saudi-American relations were shaky after the 9/11 attacks. And later on, during the terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia, the cooperation of the expatriates with Saudi authorities won the admiration of every Saudi. I asked one Indian engineer why he wanted to defend Saudi Arabia during the liberation of Kuwait. I consider Saudi Arabia is my country, he said. And I once spoke to an American classmate of mine who works for Saudi Aramco of why he didn’t leave the Kingdom during the terrorist attacks, and he said, I would not leave Saudi Arabia till they tell me to leave. His loyalty is to Saudi Arabia.

The other beautiful side of expatriates in the Kingdom is that they are the ones who built the country. They came over because we wanted them to. They did not board a boat and land illegally on Saudi beaches. And if we want some of them to leave then we have to do a lot of changes in our habits. We have to change our work ethics. Why do we, the Saudis bring a nonskilled worker just to make coffee in a company office? Why do we have a lot of street sweepers? We can reduce their numbers by simply not throwing any garbage in the streets. We even can decrease the number of workers at McDonald’s restaurants if we pick and clean the tables after we finish from a big Mac Meal.

I am the biggest supporter of employing Saudis, but we have to get rid of some habits from our social system. Our fathers and grandfathers worked at humble jobs and were not ashamed of it. Now we have 8 million expatriates, the Saudis must win the hearts of the expatriates by thanking them for their work. A smile can make a big difference. This is in particular to the maids and nannies. I know some nannies in some Saudi homes are mistreated, but there are nannies who travel all over the world with their sponsors. Giving an expatriate his salary on time is the most important part of the relations. He has a family to feed back home. Also Saudi mothers have to share the responsibilities of raising the children and Saudi men have to be the main family driver, not someone from a faraway place. With 8 million expatriates, we should expect the frictions because of a few bad apples. Saudis and expatriates shouldn’t let the bad apple spoil our relations. Embassies in the Kingdom should also put more efforts to help their citizens. As for the loyalty of expatriates to the Kingdom, well, to some expatriates, our Kingdom is the only place they know and love.

— Abdulateef Al-Mulhim is commodore (Retd.), Royal Saudi Navy. He is based in Alkhobar and can be contacted at: almulhimnavy@hotmail.com
The article can be seen in its entirety along with part of a panel discussion on this topic on this SUSRIS page. For a short bio and links to more thoughtful articles by Al-Mulhim, please see this SUSRIS link.

Uh-Oh!

2011-05-29T07:04:00.001+03:00

Sabria Jawhar on Saudi Women's Driving Ban

2011-05-27T23:32:00.001+03:00

The following is a reprint of a post written by Sabria Jawhar, a leading Saudi journalist and contributor to The Huffington Post, Saudi Gazette, and other publications. She is a doctoral candidate at Newcastle Upon Tyne University in the UK. Sabria was honored in 2010 by Arabian Business magazine when she was named to its "Power 100 List" as one of the world's most influential Arabs. She also writes a blog called "Sabria's Out of the Box," where this opinion piece was originally published and which then appeared in The Huffington Post...

There was a time when I firmly believed the endless debate about Saudi women banned from driving cars was trivial. It distracted Saudis from the real problems of the denial of women’s rights: employment, education, guardianship abuses, inheritance, and fair and equitable treatment in the Saudi judicial system.

The arrest and imprisonment of Manal Al-Sherif, 32, after driving a car in Khobar, has changed all that. The driving ban is no longer a distraction to Saudi women’s quest for their rights, but could very well be the centerpiece of our struggle to obtain rights long denied us.

My change of heart comes from the fact that it’s obvious that well into the 21st century, Saudis are unable and apparently unwilling to solve minor issues like a woman’s right to drive an automobile. So what makes me think that we can solve the weightier problems of guardianship and justice in the courts?

Well, we can’t. The path Saudi Arabia is taking towards judicial reform and granting women better employment opportunities is questionable. It’s a questionable because Manal broke no laws, yet she was arrested in the dead of night on a vague allegation of “violating the public order.” She is accused of “violating the rules and the system by driving her car, roaming the streets of the province" and "inciting public opinion" by posting a video of her driving on YouTube.

Clearly it’s the Khobar municipal police and the Commission for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue that have violated the public order. Manal was performing basic tasks as a woman in charge of her household. If that means driving a car to perform those tasks, so be it. By arresting Manal for exercising her rights to perform these chores, the police and commission violated the public order. The public order was further violated because the arrest caused anger among Saudi women who empathize with Manal’s attempts shed light on her plight to get around town to take care of her family.

The facts as we know them are that Manal, who possesses an international driver’s license as required by Saudi authorities, drove her car. She was wearing a seatbelt, obeyed all traffic laws, wore the hijab and had her brother in the car with her. There is nothing in the Saudi traffic codes about women not permitted to drive. There is nothing un-Islamic about her behavior. Sheikh Ahmed bin Baz, and long before him, Sheikh Al Al-Bani, said there is no Islamic reason to deny women the right to drive.

By arresting Manal Al-Sherif, Saudi authorities elevated the once trivial debate on women driving to a major issue. King Abdullah in an interview with Barbara Walters, and virtually every Saudi minister from the Ministry of Interior to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, unequivocally said that women driving is a societal issue. King Abdullah said that only Saudi society could determine the appropriate time when women can drive cars. He said he believed that time was soon.

I gather in this case Saudi society comprises of the religious conservatives who continue to object to this simple right, although there is no religious foundation to prevent women from driving. Manal’s brother, the woman who sat in the passenger seat of Manal’s car and Manal’s family apparently do not qualify as members of Saudi society. Nor does the woman arrested with her two female relatives the other day for driving in the rural province of Al-Ras. And perhaps the Al-Ras arrests are even more troubling than Manal’s detention.

For decades, Saudi women living in rural areas have driven cars and trucks to keep food on the table, take children to school and to make sure the family business runs smoothly. It strikes me as odd that the Saudi government gives rural women a free pass, but denies Manal a trip to a Khobar supermarket to put food on her table.

Saudis, however, have no one to blame but themselves. And I wonder whether they even understand the significance of Manal’s case. A Saudi male colleague wrote to me the other day that his father’s “neighbor refuses every single young man who comes asking for the hand of one of his three daughters in marriage … They should go to court and complain against him but they did not. Isn't (marriage) a more important issue than driving? Why do you, women, insist on driving and forget your other more basic rights?”

Clearly, the right to marry whom one pleases is more important than driving. Yet we have no hope of solving this more significant problem if we can’t even agree on the less important ones.

Frankly, I’m ashamed of what happened to Manal. Saudis hold themselves up to ridicule from the global community. Saudi Arabia singed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) as long as it doesn’t conflict with Sharia. Women driving cars does not conflict with Sharia. In addition, Saudi Arabia has earned a seat on the United Nations’ new women’s rights agency, UN Women. It was my hope that the CEDAW ratification and the membership to UN Women would bring Saudi Arabia into the global community’s embrace of universal women’s rights.

It appears we are not even close to that goal.

Manal Gets Another 10 Days for her "Crime" of Driving

2011-05-26T21:16:00.002+03:00

Now faced with losing custody of her son, Manal Al-Sharif has been sitting in jail since the wee hours of Sunday, May 22, when a brigade of policemen swooped down on her home to haul her off to jail. Arab News has just reported that she will be spending an additional ten days in jail for her crime - driving a car in Saudi Arabia, which is illegal because she lacks that extra appendage between her legs required for drivers in Saudi Arabia.

I have yet to figure out why this appendage is necessary for drivng in Saudi Arabia. Although I have never noticed my husband actually using it when he drives, maybe some men use it in steering or perhaps for flicking on the turn signal or the windshield wipers. Maybe some well-endowed men actually use it for gunning the gas pedal or slamming on the brakes. (Ouch.) I really haven't figured it out. What I do know is that in all my years of driving experience before moving to Saudi Arabia in 2007, I must have been very lucky that this appendage deficiency of mine didn't cause me problems when I was behind the wheel.

Another thing that I do know is that in Saudi Arabia, where only men are allowed to drive, the country is widely known for its unsafe and irresponsible drivers, and extremely high percentage of fatal traffic accidents, consistently ranking among the worst and deadliest in the world. Statistics don't lie. Apparently that little appendage seems to actually impede males' driving proficiency in Saudi Arabia instead of improving or enhancing it.

Women don't belong in jail for driving. Women shouldn't be humiliated and treated like children who can't behave or make decisions for themselves. Women just want to be treated fairly and take their places as valued members of society.

For years, the King of Saudi Arabia has said that he is not opposed to Saudi women driving. Petitions with thousands of signatures have been submitted to the government the past few years requesting that the ban on women driving be lifted. Human rights groups have been critical of the men-only driving policy. Lately women have posted videos on the internet of themselves driving in Saudi Arabia despite the threat of being arrested, losing their jobs or children, or being beaten. Every year it is reported that it is hoped that Saudi women will be allowed to drive by the end of the year, and every year, nothing happens.

The excuse, though, for continuing the country's ban on women driving is always that this change will take time for Saudi society to accept this idea first.

I must ask: IF NOT NOW, WHEN?
COME ON! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. JUST DO IT ALREADY!

Cartoon Artwork or this post courtesy of Aafke, artist extraordinaire and blogging author of Clouddragon and Aafke, Horses, and Art. Thank you, Aafke!

Cultural Differences

2011-05-25T05:33:00.001+03:00

TRUE CRIME: Daring to Drive!

2011-05-24T23:30:00.006+03:00

SCENARIO: A woman makes plans to go to the mall with two of her girlfriends. They decide to meet up at her house, chat for a bit, and then the three of them gather their purses and are out the door for a fun trip to the mall.

The three women get into the car and buckle up. The woman behind the wheel checks the vehicle's mirrors, makes sure she is clear to pull out onto the road, and proceeds with caution, blending into traffic seamlessly.

Suddenly flashing red lights and sirens ascend on the car. The driver of the car is removed from the car and detained by the police.

Her crime? DRIVING!

Scandalous! Horrors! Where else in the world but Saudi Arabia is this considered a crime? Where else in the world would an incident like this make the news? When will this infringement on Saudi women's freedom end?

The latest episode in the continuing saga of Saudi women's quest for the right to drive - this Arab News article details the crime of another Saudi woman caught DARING TO DRIVE!

Saudi Women Want to Drive

2011-05-24T09:59:00.001+03:00

FREE MANAL

2011-05-23T00:02:00.005+03:00

"THE RAIN STARTS WITH A SINGLE DROP."

Manal Al-Sharif is a 32-year-old Saudi mother of a five-year-old son. She was reportedly arrested for a second time, this time allegedly in the middle of the night by a brigade of 9 police officers. According to Sabq Newspaper, Manal will remain in custody for five days for driving, for letting herself be filmed while driving, for posting the video online, and for inciting other Saudi women to break the law by driving. Some sources also say that her brother was arrested as well.

One would think that the international outrage would be enough to embarrass the Saudi government into granting women their god given right to drive, however unfortunately the Saudi government has never been too concerned about its image to the rest of the world when it comes to women's rights. Strong independent women in Saudi Arabia are viewed as a threat to the male dominance and, hence, must be eliminated. Shame on Saudi Arabia for violating and denying its women's rights and dignity.

Here is another article issued by the Associated Press regarding Manal's re-arrest.
"WE ARE SUPPORTING MANAL ALSHARIF" Facebook page.

The Rain Starts with a Single Drop

2011-05-22T07:40:00.011+03:00

June 17th has been set as the date for women in Saudi Arabia to unite and take their rightful places on the streets - behind the wheel.

There is no organized meeting place, no fanfare. Just a call for women with valid international drivers licenses to take to the streets on this day and drive. A Facebook Event Page has attracted almost 13,000 who have pledged that they will particpate.

Women in the rural areas of Saudi Arabia drive without any problems, but city women are forced to hire drivers or taxis or depend on male family members to drive them. Sometimes women have even had to break the law by driving to save the lives of their loved ones. And imagine how humiliating it is for a woman to be denied the right to drive yet there seems to be no problem at all with her pre-pubescent son getting behind the wheel. This movement to allow Saudi women to drive has garnered the support of many Saudi men as well. Crippling half the population of the country by restricting women from driving themselves places undue stress on the men who must drive them and economic hardship on many families. Abdullah Alami, a well respected Saudi economist and writer, even organized a petition campaign to lift the ban against women driving and presented the signed forms to the Saudi governmental advisory body called the Shura Council.

I have written many times about my perceptions of the lack of freedom for women in Saudi Arabia, but the topic I have focused on the most has been the ban on women driving within the country. The reason for this is because not being allowed to drive in KSA has personally affected me and my quality of life in Saudi Arabia, and not in a good way. There is nothing in Islam that forbids women from driving. Saudi religious scholars, however, have determined that men would lose control over women who are able to drive themselves. Since prevention of immorality is such a big part of Saudi culture, women are forbidden from driving.

Some brave trailblazing Saudi women have already begun driving and have even posted videos of themselves at the wheel. They include:

Najla Hariri (above) in Jeddah, an experienced driver who holds an international drivers license plus licenses from two other Middle Eastern countries. She was inspired to act by the protests in the Middle East earlier this year. Najla is a 45-year-old mother of five who has the full support of her husband and her family in her quest to drive in Saudi Arabia legally. Najla was quoted as saying, "In this society I am a little bit brave. I am not scared."

Manal al-Sharif (above) in Al-Khobar who was arrested this past week by the religious police when they spotted her driving. Her motivation to get behind the wheel was the extreme frustration she experienced one night on her way home. "I had to walk on the street for half an hour looking for a cab. I was harassed by every single car because it was late at night and I was walking alone," she told CNN. "I kept calling my brother to pick me up, but his phone wasn't answering. I was crying in the street. A 32-year-old grown woman, a mother, crying like a kid because I couldn't find anyone to bring me home."

SaudiWoman wrote this in depth post on her blog about Manal, the controversy surrounding the planned driving event for women on June 17, and the opposition to it - like calling for the whipping of women who dare to drive in Saudi Arabia.

Manal al-Sharif didn't set out to be a hero or a revolutionary. She just feels that Saudi women need to start speaking up for their rights. Driving is just a starting point. There are many other women's issues that need to be addressed like the outdated male guardianship system and women's employment issues, just to name a couple. In the video below, Manal tells CNN about a well-known saying in her country: "The rain starts with a single drop."

You can sign this petition to End Saudi Arabia's Ban on Women Driving.

UPDATE: The Facebook Event page above has been taken down. Manal Al-Sharif was reportedly arrested again, this time in the middle of the night by a brigade of 9 police officers. According to Sabq Newspaper, Manal will remain in custody for five days for driving, for letting herself be filmed while driving, for posting the video online, and for inciting other Saudi women to break the law by driving. Some sources also say that her brother was arrested as well. One would think that the international outrage would be enough to embarrass the Saudi government into granting women their god given right to drive, however unfortunately the Saudi government has never been too concerned about its image to the rest of the world when it comes to women's rights. Strong independent women in Saudi Arabia are viewed as a threat to the male dominance and, hence, must be eliminated. Shame on Saudi Arabia for violating and denying its women's rights and dignity.

The Women in Black

2011-05-14T23:13:00.006+03:00

Hala is a young Saudi woman, intelligent, progressive, and well-educated, who writes about women's issues in Saudi Arabia. She is optimistic about the future and strives for changes in the roles that Saudi women play in Saudi society. I was impressed by this poem she wrote and wanted to share it with you. You can find out more about Hala by reading this interview she did on American Bedu's blog a while back.

Hala's introduction to her poem, "The Women in Black" :

"When I was a little girl I was inspired by a stranger, an anonymous woman who showed up once in Gazzaz shop in Jeddah. My mother used to shop frequently there and to take us along, that young woman who had an air of confidence, and who was completely on her own enjoying herself without a fear of being watched or harrased was such an inspiration for me… Long before I can put the exact words of autonomy and self sufficiency to an independent woman, that strange woman embodied the meaning… I dedicate the following poem to all the great women of Saudi Arabia who never fail to show strength and perseverance no matter how much they face an unmet needs… This poem was recited at the Cyber activism women bloggers conference in Copenhagen" :

The Women in Black

Once upon a time, in a busy shop

In the land of tribes and ancient civilizations

A little girl sat watching…

in silent resignation

Grown-up women with shrouds of black

Hidden and silent… in isolation

With a “no-trespassing” look

They wandered around in simulation

When a single woman appeared, suddenly, in the shop

The little girl felt a sudden sensation

Yes, the woman wore the black alright…

Yet, she walked with determination

Not cautious, fearful, or covered-up

The woman moved as a distinct population

She seemed to own the world

She was … such an inspiration…

Why would she be on her own? The little girl wondered?

Wasn’t she afraid from reprimands or accusations?

Looking that pretty in embroidered black,

Defying the norms as if in a celebration

Who gave her the money that she’s spending

Without a second thought or a hesitation?

Was she really confident and strong as she seemed?

Or is it the little girl wishful imagination????

In that little girl’s life

Most women shared a specific combination

Emotions were not revealed, opinions were suppressed

With lots of reservations

They held on to their black tightly

Least someone recognize their identifications

Their world seemed full of judging men

Watching for proofs of condemnation

So the women in black kept their covers tight

Protecting their reputation

Yet a single woman in black dared to show her face

Visible without a mask, in obvious relaxation!!

The little girl knew that something/ someone

Must explain that awkward observation

Of that visible woman in black

Despite the isolation… despite the limitations

As time passes-by,

The little girl grows in fascination

More visible women are out there

Raising their voices in frustration

They no longer accept second-places

They no-longer sat in resignation

The reality doors are shut but the virtual ones are forcedly-opened

With fierce determination

The women in black want their rights

Demanding full participation

Campaigning for municipal elections, driving,

Minimum marital age or right of self- representation

Commenting on international treaties for women,

Gender-equality, or women-rights affiliation

They are loud and visible

No longer silent, passive, or fearing condemnation

They write, blog, tweet, and post

In a constant flow of information

They build networks and constituencies

Unlimited by gender-segregation,

No longer helpless or maintained

As prisoners of infinite duration…

Yes, we are in a constant fear of social backlash

But the power of words defeats organizations

The little girl recalls the single woman in black…

Whenever she feels a hesitation…

Beautiful and powerful in her own way…

A woman, who defeats stagnation…

We will not be deprived

We are a different generation….

And if countries can be flipped over and start anew

In search of liberation

We, too, the women in black

Can exceed our own expectations…

Saudi Man Dies Saving American Child

2011-04-28T05:57:00.008+03:00

The following article is reprinted from Arab News. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much at all written about this story in the American press. This young man died a hero, and America should hear about it.
PLEASE READ THE UPDATE TO THIS STORY BELOW.

Mourners hail Saudi's heroic act in US
By MUHAMMAD AL-SULAMI | ARAB NEWS

Published: Apr 26, 2011

JEDDAH: A large crowd attended in Jeddah on Monday the burial of Mashari Abdul Mohsen Al-Siraihi, a 21-year-old who drowned in a lake in Ohio last week after rescuing an American child.

Al-Siraihi, born in 1990, was studying electronic engineering in the University of Akron. His body arrived at King Abdulaziz International Airport on Sunday.

Al-Siraihi and his friend George Raresheid III, 46, of Lake Township drowned in a cold water reservoir in West Branch State Park, Ohio, in a weather-triggered accident on April 17.

Though saddened by the untimely death of the young Saudi man, mourners were proud that he gave his life for another and described him as a real hero.

Speaking to Arab News, the mourners were unanimous in their view that Al-Siraihi’s heroic deed was enough proof for Americans to realize that Saudis are a peace-loving people who uphold moral and humanitarian values.

They said his deed was no strange act to Muslims, who love others regardless of their race, color or creed.

Nasser Al-Siraihi, a relative of the deceased, said he was deeply saddened by the death.

“Though we are sad, we are also proud that Mashari was able to save the American child, who was the son of his friend,” he said.

Muhammad Hamdan Al-Sirahai, Mashari’s uncle, expressed similar sentiments and said he saved a child who was not from his race or religion.

“Mashari was able to project the true picture of Islam. He was a hero who died saving others,” he said.

Naif Al-Siraihi, another uncle, who is a master’s degree student in the US and who accompanied the body back home, said his nephew was sailing with his American friend and his son Michael, 13, in the lake when their 14-foot flat-boat fishing boat capsized in bad weather.

He said Al-Siraihi swam with the child to the shore and went back into the water to rescue the father but could not. He finally succumbed to the water.

He said when American rescuers reached the scene it was too late and both men died.

Naif Al-Siraihi, who shared the same room with Mashari, said the search for his body continued into the next day. “After 20 hours of searching using helicopters, Mashari's body was found near the shore,” he said.

Al-Siraihi's relatives and friends who received the body at the airport said amid tears that his heroic deed would live long in the memory.

UPDATE: Apparently there are two versions to this incident - the way Arab News chose to report it on April 26 with Al-Siraihi dying as a hero, and the version published on April 18 in the CantonRep.com whereby the American boy who survived was the actual hero. Another issue is the fact that the CantonRep reported that Al-Siraihi was in fact the boyfriend of the daughter of the other man who drowned. This was completely omitted in the Arab News article - because good Saudi boys/heros don't have girlfriends. I believe Arab News has intentionally hoodwinked its readers, myself included. And I'm not happy about it.

The Inside Outsider

2011-04-21T01:28:00.009+03:00

Many children of mixed marriages in Saudi Arabia (usually the father is Saudi and the mother is not) have identity issues. They do not particularly feel accepted by or part of either of their parents’ cultures. Certainly when my son moved to Saudi Arabia at 14, he felt much more American than he did Saudi. Had he been exposed to the Saudi culture at a younger age, perhaps he would have felt differently. Or maybe he would have felt even more confused about his identity.

I’d like to introduce you to “The Inside Outsider,” who is half-Saudi and half-American. She and her siblings were raised as “citizens of the world,” attending schools in Saudi Arabia, America and Europe. Now in her mid-30s, she is married to a Saudi man and is raising her own children. They live in KSA but travel frequently outside the country, exposing her kids to the many wonders and complexities of our globe.

The following is sage advice and unique insights she has for newcomers to Saudi Arabia who are trying to fit in and make a normal life for themselves in this country that has many cultural roadblocks in the way, as well as attitudes hostile to the modern world. So here, in her own words, is “The Inside Outsider.”

*******************************

About this place they call "Saudi," I have a lot to say about it. I have many feelings that are buried deep down inside, and for the first time, I am going to bring them out. I am turning my thoughts and feelings into words; these have been building up since childhood.

Saudi Arabia is a unique place. It’s a place where the ancient wisdom that it was once renowned for is long gone, buried under the mineral and black gold that seems to have given it new character and personality. A wisdom that has no more value, a wisdom that is now considered worthless and those who try to practice it are shunned and pushed aside. The ancient leaders of Arabia, the well-known prophets, scientists, romantics, poets, and many others would be appalled at what it has become today.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia often reminds me of the television series "LOST." It is a place with a strange power that controls everybody - a power that is unseen, unexplained, scary, yet resourceful. It is a place that is a "goldmine," a "safe haven," and a "no mans land," where if you place yourself properly, you can get away with murder - literally. This place attracts the most insufficient, unprofessional, unethical, dishonest people from all around the world. It attracts people who cannot make a decent living, people who have been convicted for something minor or even major, people who escape taxes, people who cannot get it together in their own countries – they all come here.

Saudi Arabia has a very low standard for anything ethical or professional. Its people are lazy, consuming, demanding, self righteous, spoiled and incapable. During the past 20-30 years, they have been in a slumber induced by a lack of leadership and tight controls on everything, which retarded any kind of growth. Losers from other countries come here to make a quick buck. I personally know and can name a few. These people come from all walks of life - the Americans, the British, the Indians, the Bengalis, the Filipinos, the Egyptians, etc, etc.

Saudi residents tend to group together to create little clicks, gangs, mafias - whatever you want to call it - survival groups that are bonded by the same goals, mentality, and mind set with strong loyalties to each other. These groups are very difficult to infiltrate if you are not like-minded. They are based on a commonality that each individual has while excluding any others. This grouping can be among siblings, extended family members, school friends, college friends, colleagues at work, or specific social classes and groups. If you find yourself trying to fit in, you will not be able to unless the majority in the group find a commonality that they can accept you for. They are in control not you; so don’t even try to fit in.

This is where I tell you not to be concerned with cultural differences or racial differences, because these are not what the society is based on. I don’t feel like there is a real culture in Saudi Arabia anymore. Society doesn’t practice true Arabian or Islamic behavior of generosity anymore. No more open homes, free food, kind words, smiles, helping hands, or anything that the Arabs or Muslims were previously very well known for. There no longer exists the Arabian Knight on a shiny white horse.

Don’t be afraid; be proud that you don’t fit in. I personally felt extremely reassured and relieved when I realized that I don’t fit in fully and that I never will. I have been brought up in a multi-cultural home, which is non-judgmental, considerate, kind and forgiving. I was ecstatic when I finally accepted that I would never be a full part of the Saudi people of today. I may never really fit in anywhere, but I know that the human characteristics that really matter in the end are the ones that I want to practice and hold on to even if that means that I am estranged from my own “home town.”

This place has to have a purpose for you, besides it being a home. You have to find something that you can only be able to take advantage of in such a country - maybe like completing a higher degree because of the long empty hours you will have affording plenty of time to study, or work experience that is unique, or exposure to others who may get you a foot in the door somewhere. Make this place work for your personal gains. Don’t just exist here for the sake of your children; they will also never really fit in. Let them be who you want them to be, not who you think the society will accept - because it’s not going to happen. They should be good people with beautiful human characteristics, with universal rules to follow - people who can live anywhere in the world and make you proud.

Always make sure you have an escape - yes, a way out! Always keep your passports with you, especially the American ones. Make sure you have the consulate’s number with you at all times. Always have a plan that will get you and your kids out of here if necessary. Most Saudis have and or seek dual citizenship for this reason - an escape route. Those who don’t have dual citizenship truly envy those who do. People may mistreat you only because they know that you and your kids can leave if you ever wanted or had to, and that the American government will support you as a person no matter what. YOU ARE THE UNTOUCHABLES, and that’s why you feel the hate.

Of course there are many good things here, but you must wade through the bad and scrape it off before you can see or appreciate the good. That’s just the way it is - the most annoying stuff just gets right up into our faces. In my opinion it is one of the most difficult countries in the world to live in. This place is “special” in many different ways. You will find those few and far between people whom you will not be able to live without. These are the people who will appear when you are most in need and they can keep you afloat. These people will be your friend no matter where you go, and they are in the same position you are in, so they understand.

Don’t be who you are not, and don’t try to change. That is the biggest cause for distress and depression when living in Saudi. Because no matter how hard you try to please family members, friends, or “the group,” they will never appreciate it and never be pleased because you are just not one of them - and you will never be. It’s the painful truth; they will just laugh at you and talk about you behind your back. So be your beautiful Californian blonde self and enjoy being that. Their envy is killing them!

A very strong tool to use in Saudi is silence. If they can’t hear your thoughts they can’t control you. If they can’t see what you are all about they can’t get to you. Saudi people are experts at reverse psychology and mental manipulation. They have a skill at finding your weaknesses and going for you. If they don’t hurt you today, they will tomorrow. Keep your thoughts to yourself and that is your power against them.

I know that it is tough because you must live in survival mode constantly. You must become accustomed to protecting yourself and building a strong defense mechanism. It is exhausting and sometimes not worth it. But if you choose to live here, this is the advice I have for you. This is what I have learned living amongst them as an “inside outsider.”

Arguing Over French Law Banning Veils

2011-04-12T08:50:00.005+03:00

As France's new law banning face veils went into effect on April 11th, more than twenty veiled women and dozens of others have been arrested in protests at Notre Dame Cathedral against the new ban. Belgium was the first country to pass a similar law last year, but Belgium's ban has gone largely unenforced and unchallenged. Several other European countries are also considering passing laws which ban face veils as well.

In this video, Hebah Ahmed and Mona Eltahawy, both Muslim women, debate France's decision to ban face veils (niqab) in public.

People who go to Saudi Arabia to work or visit have to follow KSA's laws. For example, practising another religion other than Islam is prohibited and proselytizing in KSA is punishable by death. Also, if a man and a woman who are not married to each other are caught alone together, they will likely be sentenced to jailtime and lashings. These are examples of existing laws in KSA, and even though most other countries do not have laws like these, they must be followed or suffer the consequences.

Arab News published this article about how there is mixed reaction among Saudi women about the new French law. It quoted Sarah Kazim, a 30-year-old housewife, expressing her feeling that people everywhere should respect the laws of each individual country. “If women are made to dress a different way and wear their hijab in Saudi Arabia and we respect it, then we should respect the laws of the French constitution. Why treat them differently when we have laws that are most distinct to any other country?”

While I believe in freedom and choice, I am leaning toward agreeing with Sarah Kazim. Since I moved to Saudi Arabia in 2007, every time I step out the door, I must wear a black cloak (abaya) because, as my husband says, "It's the law of the land." He also insists that I cover my hair for the same reason, although in Jeddah, one can see some women without head coverings (hijab), especially at the malls. However the vast majority of women in Saudi Arabia not only cover their hair, but they wear the face veils (niqab) as well. Saudi women supposedly wear all of this garb because it is "their choice." This is not a religious requirement, nor is it a law. It is a cultural thing, although the women's dress code is enforced by the religious police who have been known to whack women on the ankles with a stick if too much ankle skin is showing.

All I know is that I feel I am forced to wear the abaya and the hijab when I'm in Saudi Arabia - because it would not be my choice to dress like that. And I doubt if I am the only woman in KSA who feels that it is not my choice.

Other related posts:
Voice Behind the Veil... (Sept. 22, 2010)
The Veil and the Hijab (July 9, 2010)
Hair Do or Hair Don't? (Feb. 7, 2009)

Where is Khaled?

2011-04-07T21:29:00.004+03:00

The planned "Day of Rage" which was set for March 11, 2011, in Saudi Arabia was squelched due to a humongous police presence and threats of prison and loss of Saudi citizenship. In an attempt to subdue protests like those seen in many other countries in the Middle East region the past few months, billions of dollars worth of financial aid in social benefits was offered up by the Saudi government as a bandaid to try to assuage any discontent. How much of the billions of dollars in this package will actually reach its intended targets is questionable in a country where corruption is rampant and those responsible for it are not held accountable. More than likely, much of this money will wind up lining the pockets of those entrusted with disbursing it as it has in the past.

Khaled Mohammed is one very brave man. He is a Saudi teacher and father of four who has not been seen or heard from since he spoke out on March 11, expressing his desire for freedom and democracy. He knew he would be hauled off to jail after he spoke out. There are many people in Saudi Arabia who want the same things that Khaled does but who are afraid to let their voices be heard. A government that bullies its citizens into silence in this manner is only in denial about the pressure cooker of problems brewing beneath the surface.

The video has English subtitles.

A Facebook page has been erected for Khaled. Please click "LIKE" to show your support.

Saudi Woman's Perspective: Going Back in Time

2011-04-03T22:19:00.001+03:00

As an American woman, I certainly don't feel that I can speak on behalf of Saudi women. One of the most articulate and insightful voices coming from within the Kingdom is that of SaudiWoman, a well-traveled and educated Saudi wife and mother. This is her latest post from her blog SaudiWoman ...

These past couple of weeks have convinced me that the government has made a huge scientific discovery, the time machine, and is now using it to pull the whole country back into the eighties. The King’s decrees, which included a generous package for the ultra-conservatives and gave absolute impunity to the senior clerics council from media criticism, were just an indication of what was coming. Since then, it has been made official instead of being just a religious recommendation; women are banned by law from working as cashiers. This was due to a complaint and proposal by sheikh Yusuf Al Ahmed to the Interior Ministry.

A forum, “Women and Development”, on March 13th here in Riyadh called on the authorities to grant women incentives and stipends to encourage them to stay at home, and to push forward early retirement by reducing service to just 15 years. Also they suggested a special system of part time work just for women and to limit their hospital work to women only wards and ER.

The only moderate muttawa in the PVPV, Dr. Ahmed Al Ghamdi, has been relieved of his post as head of the Makkah PVPV division. He was the only PVPV member who stated openly that women are allowed in Islam to not cover their faces and that there is no such thing as extreme gender segregation in Islam. The latter view is also shared and researched in depth by another high official in the ministry of Justice, Shiekh Eissa Al Ghaith.

Yesterday the interior ministry has announced (ambiguously) that over five thousand detainees were released in the past after they repented from terrorism and others are awaiting trial. Why was this statement made now though? Many of those in political prisons in Saudi were arrested because they belonged to the same ultra-conservative group in the eighties and nineties that produced people like Osama Bin Laden. The free ultra-conservatives are currently apolitical and have focused their energy on the safe and easy misogyny trend except when it comes to the matter of their imprisoned brothers. So this statement can be categorized as of more of the aforementioned appeasement of the ultra-conservatives. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s a huge leap forward and I completely support and celebrate their release. Imprisoning anyone without a clear case and fair trial only creates more terrorism. I just hope that the human rights activist Mikhlif Al Shammary would also be released.

Another blast from the past is that women again will be banned from voting. The municipality elections were announced to start on April 23rd and it was confirmed that women will be completely excluded from the process. For a country that states that it’s constitution is the Quran, excluding women does not fit in with the statement; the Prophet (PBUH) and later caliphs took pledges of leadership (very close to the concept of voting) from both women and men. These are the second elections to take place in the kingdom, and the first excluded women too under the pretense that the logistics of including women and avoiding gender mingling would postpone the elections too long. This was six years ago, and all these years obviously have not been enough time to prepare for the impossible task of actually treating women as full citizens.

I prefer to end on a happy note. The Saudi Women Revolution is now a healthy cooing toddler. A group of women headed by one of Saudi’s biggest women rights activists Dr. Hatoon Al Fasi have decided to start their own municipalities parallel to the government’s. If only we would start parallel cities where women can enjoy their full rights, I bet more and more Saudis will want to move there until the parallel becomes the majority and the current status becomes a margin.

Also this video is a actually a collaboration between a multi generational group of Saudi women who prefer to remain anonymous for now but are currently planning and working towards a bigger online presence.

I can’t wait until the women revolution here hits it’s teen growth spurt.

Finally, in case you missed it, the BBC had an excellent video documentary and radio show on Saudi women. I’m featured in both but more so on the radio show.

Have Saudi Women Achieved Their Rights?

2011-03-27T09:35:00.004+03:00

The following article was published in Arab News on March 26, 2011 and was written by Walaa Hawari. The original article can be found HERE.

Have Saudi women achieved their rights?

By WALAA HAWARI | ARAB NEWS

Published: Mar 26, 2011 23:09 in Arab News

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA: On March 8 the world celebrated International Women’s day. Some women across the world either expressed satisfaction at achieving some or all of their rights whereas others expressed aspirations to achieve them. It became clear that women are still demanding their rights and expecting to seem them materialize.

Celebrations within the Kingdom were rather humble and took the form of women simply stating the achievements of Saudi women. The question, however, remains whether Saudi women have actually achieved their rights or at the least some of them.

According to Thurya Abed Sheikh, a PhD holder, founding member of the National Society for Human Rights and vice president of the Al-Wafa Philanthropic Society for Women, Saudi women have “almost” achieved their rights.

“We cannot say we are there yet, but we are on the way,” she said, adding that women in the Kingdom have not made much progress with regards to the Shoura Council, the Municipal Council, driving and legal rights.

“Marriage, divorce and children’s custody are rights that Saudi women are still being denied,” she said, adding that she sees women suffering all the time through the work she does.

“There is no lucid and clear family law to govern breaches in those domains for which women pay a huge price,” said Sheikh, adding that although Saudi women are in high positions they are still short of achieving the simplest of rights.

Demands for women to be employed in courts is a long-term requirement, said Sheikh, adding that such a move would make it easy on women to communicate with legal representatives, judges and lawyers, and resolve matters quickly.

“Women’ rights are lost in courtrooms. Even when a women receives a ruling in her favor, no executive power follows up on whether the ruling has been executed,” said Sheikh, adding that many women lose custody of their children and do not receive alimony in cases when courts have awarded them such.

Sheikh is, however, optimistic that Saudi women will see their rights materialize.

May Al-Sudairi, a writer and human rights activist, strongly disagrees. “The Saudi woman is completely marginalized and the positions she is awarded are more symbolic,” she said, adding that a Saudi woman being at an international forum or conference or meeting Hillary Clinton does not solve her problems.

“I do not want to attend international events, while my voice is not heard inside,” said Al-Sudairi, adding that reforms in the legal system to better the situation of women are more important.

Saudi women are treated like minors, Al-Sudairi said, adding that they are required to be governed and guarded by male relatives regardless of their capability or compatibility.

“Forty and 60-year-old women, those who are in high positions even, need permission from a son, a brother or a male relative to travel and own property,” she said, adding that some women are forced to pay male relatives to give them travel permits or represent them in court.

Al-Sudairi advocates employing women in official positions, especially in the legal system, to enable them to be better heard and represented while providing jobs to unemployed women.

“Women have always operated in the justice system, take the example of Ayesha, the Prophet’s (pbuh) wife,” she said, adding that his first wife, Khadija, was a well-known businesswoman.

According to Amal Badrodeen, a pediatric and general health care consultant and educator, Saudi women have achieved some of their goals through their personal willpower, enthusiasm and persistence. She believes women have come a long way in the Kingdom.

“We did this on our own. Yes there were supporting elements, but we manipulated those elements to achieve our goals,” said Badrodeen, adding that sending women on scholarships and developing the education system are some of those elements.

Considering the achievements of Saudi women positively will encourage women to do more, said Badrodeen. She added that some sectors have developed further for women to move forward.

She, however, feels the legal system needs adjustment to allow Saudi women to achieve their rights. She also feels that Saudi women need to demand their rights and overcome obstacles to prove themselves in every field, adding that women cannot dispense of the support of men without totally depending on them. “It’s our right to gain our rights,” she said.

Madawi Al-Hassoon, a Saudi businesswoman and board member of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, feels that when it comes to women’s rights “Saudi women are still not there yet.”

Al-Hassoon said Saudi women are marginalized and oppressed despite official steps to give them their rights. “Regulations are issued in women’s favor, but applying them is difficult,” she said, adding that a royal decree was issued in 2008 permitting businesswomen to live in hotels. However, many hotels remain reluctant to allow businesswomen to live in hotels.

The Jeddah Economic Forum is another example of Saudi women being sidelined, she said, adding that Saudi businesswomen were not included or represented at the event this year and last year.

“We are optimistic that we will achieve our rights officially and with the support of the government. However, it is the application of those rights that we worry about, especially when there are individuals with certain agendas preventing women from moving forward,” said Al-Hassoon, adding that regulations need to be implemented and that this needs to be checked. She added that those who refuse to implement them should be punished.

The Riyadh Book Fair, said Al-Hassoon, is another example when certain individuals harassed Saudi women believing they have the right to instruct, criticize or correct them.

Maintaining the dignity of Saudi women is the responsibility of the officials, said Al-Hassoon, adding that their voices should be heard and their rights protected.

“How can we request a guardian to run her life when strangers have a right in her life.”

Playboy Interview: Helen Thomas

2011-03-20T20:02:00.003+03:00

Helen Thomas Playboy Interview
By David Hochman, Playboy, April 2011

For more than half a century, Helen Thomas owned the most valuable piece of real estate in the White House briefing room. Her front-row seat at presidential press conferences and its attendant benefits made her the unofficial dean of the White House press corps. She was often called on first and usually ended the gatherings with a signature “Thank you, Mr. President.” Her bold, irksome questions were like hot pokers to 10 US presidents, and her fearless approach rattled press secretaries and set a tone for generations of straight-shooting, badgering reporters. Last summer, still working full-time at 89, she saw her decades-long career fall to pieces after a two-minute video clip went viral on YouTube. A Long Island rabbi and blogger visiting the White House turned his camera on Thomas on May 27 and asked for “any comments on Israel.” Thomas instantly shot back, “Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine,” adding that the Jews “can go home” to “Poland, Germany and America and everywhere else.” Endless media outrage ensued, prompting Thomas to issue an apology and abruptly “resign” from Hearst Newspapers on Jun 7. Her speaking agency dropped her, journalism schools and organizations rescinded awards named in her honor and she lost that prized seat in the White House. Thomas’s comments were not a complete shock to those who follow her. In recent years she practically scolded presidents and their gatekeepers for favoring Israel. She had previously asked the White House about Israel’s “secret” nuclear arsenal and why Obama did not condemn last May’s Israeli attacks on the aid flotilla headed for Gaza.

Born August 4, 1920, Thomas herself is of Arab descent. She was the seventh of nine children born in Winchester, Kentucky to Syrian-born emigrants from Tripoli, Lebanon. Her family soon moved to Detroit, where her father ran a grocery store even though he couldn’t read or write in English. News was often a topic around the house, and after college Thomas landed a job as a girl Friday at a Washington newspaper toward the end of World War II. That led her to the copy desk and a cub reporter position and eventually to a job covering government bureaucracy for the wire service United Press International. She remained at UPI for much of her career. As White House correspondent from the Kennedy administration on, Thomas had unusual prominence, despite standing just under five feet tall. Famously direct, Thomas was especially forceful with Bush 43, whom she once called “the worst president in US history.” She was relentless about getting him to explain his decision to go to war in Iraq, asking over and over, “What was your real reason? What was it? Why did you go to war?” His minions promptly moved Thomas to the back row of the briefing room. Thomas now writes a column for the Falls Church News-Press in Virginia. She still wakes early to read various newspapers delivered to her door, and she’s still out many nights talking politics at favorite Washington haunts.

Contributing Editor David Hochman got the idea to call Thomas to see if she wanted to talk. “She picked up the phone and said yes immediately,” he says. “I think she really appreciated the opportunity to do a long-format Q&A to express her side of what happened.”

Based in Los Angeles, Hochman flew to Washington to meet Thomas at her apartment near Dupont Circle. They also broke bread at her favorite Palestinian restaurant. “I was curious whether I’d find the ranting woman from the YouTube video,” Hochman says. “She turned out to be a person in full possession of her faculties and impressively articulate. Mostly she was the Thomas the public has known forever: feisty, passionate and not afraid to speak up.” Does Hochman, who is Jewish, believe Thomas is an anti-Semite? “I’ll let the reader decide. But I did think it was amusing when she presented a plate of ham sandwiches and then said, ‘Oh, I hope I haven’t served the wrong thing.’ ”

PLAYBOY: So is this how you pictured retirement?
THOMAS: I’m not retired! I was fired. In fact, I’ll die with my boots on. I’m still writing and I’ll continue to write and ask hard questions. I will never bow out of journalism.
PLAYBOY: Take us back to the White House courtyard on May 27 when Rabbi David Nesenoff pointed his camera at you and asked for your comments on Israel.
THOMAS: He pulled that thing out like a jackknife. I mean, he started out very nice, introducing me to these two young boys who wanted to be in journalism. He said, “Got any advice? Go for it.” I didn’t know it was Jewish Heritage Month, which is why he was at the White House and also why he asked “So what do you think of Israel?” That’s when I said, “They should get the hell out of Palestine.”
PLAYBOY: Did you realize how controversial those words were as you spoke them?
THOMAS: I knew I’d hit the third rail. You cannot say anything about Israel in this country. But I’ve lived with this cause for many years. Everybody knows my feelings that the Palestinians have been shortchanged in every way. Sure, the Israelis have a right to exist, but where they were born, not to come and take someone else’s home. I’ve had it up to here with the violations against the Palestinians. Why shouldn’t I say it? I knew exactly what I was doing, I was going for broke. I had reached the point of no return. You finally get fed up.
PLAYBOY: What was life like in the immediate aftermath as millions started viewing the video on YouTube?
THOMAS: I went into self-imposed house arrest for two weeks. It was a case of “know thyself.” Isn’t that what Socrates said? I wanted to see if I was remorseful, and I wasn’t.
PLAYBOY: Did the phone ring off the hook?
THOMAS: No. Nobody called. But I still have some friends in the White House press pool, who reached out to me. I understand they formed Jews for Helen Thomas at one point.
PLAYBOY: That’s interesting.
THOMAS: I also heard from Jimmy Carter. He called a few weeks later.
PLAYBOY: He did? What did he say?
THOMAS: Basically he was sympathetic. He talked about the Israelis in the Middle East, the violations. It was very nice of him to call, but I don’t want to get him into trouble.
PLAYBOY: His reaction certainly wasn’t typical.
THOMAS: No. Every columnist and commentator jumped on me immediately as anti-Semitic. Nobody asked me to explain myself. Nobody said, “What did you really mean?”
PLAYBOY: What did you really mean?
THOMAS: Well, there’s no understanding of the Palestinians at all. I mean, they’re living there and these people want to come and take their homes and land and water and kill their children and kill them. How many are still under arrest in Israel, never been charged, never been tried, never been convicted? Thousands. Why? Meanwhile, we keep giving Israel everything. Our government bribes the Israelis by saying, “Please come to the table and we’ll give you this and we’ll give you that.” Obama’s last offer to the Israelis was $22 billion in new fighter planes, a veto at the UN for anything pro-Arab or pro-Palestinian and a three-month freeze on the colonization and settlers. I mean, what is this? They gave away the store, just as Reagan and every other president did. Why do you have to bribe people to do the right thing? I don’t want my government bribing anybody. I want them demanding. Stop all this aid to Israel when they’re killing people!
PLAYBOY: It was your follow-up comment, when you said the Jews should go back to Poland, Germany and America, that really infuriated people.
THOMAS: Well, that immediately evoked the concentration camps. What I meant was they should stay where they are because they’re not being persecuted, not since WW2, not since 1945. If they were, we sure would hear about it. Instead, they initiated the Jackson-Vanik law, which said the US would not trade with Russia unless it allowed unlimited Jewish emigration. But it was not immigration to the US, which would have been fine with me. It was to go to Palestine and uproot these people, throw them out of their homes, which they have done through several wars. That’s not fair. I want people to understand why the Palestinians are upset. They are incarcerated and living in an open prison. I say to the Israelis, “Get out of people’s homes!” It’s unacceptable to have soldiers knocking on a door at three in the morning and saying, “This is my home.” And forcing people out of homes they’ve lived in for centuries? What is this? How can anybody accept it? I mean, Jewish-only roads? Would anyone tolerate something like that in the US? White-only roads?
PLAYBOY: You mean Israeli-only roads, not Jewish only, right?
THOMAS: Israeli-only roads, okay. But it’s more than semantics because the Palestinians are deprived of owning these roads. This is their land. I’m sorry, but we’re talking about foreigners who came and said, “God gave this land to us.” Rabin said, “Where’s the deed?” I mean, come on! Do you know that an Arab Palestinian trying to go home to see his mother has to go through 10 checkpoints and then is held there, while a US tourist can go through right like that? The Palestinian people have to carry their kids to hospitals and are not allowed to drive cars and so forth. What is this? No US Jew would tolerate that sort of treatment here against blacks or anyone else. Why do they allow it over there? And why do they send my US tax dollars to perpetuate it?
PLAYBOY: Do you acknowledge that some Palestinian behavior over the years, including hijacking and the use of suicide bombers, has been wrong and has added to the problem?
THOMAS: In an ideal world passive resistance and world disarmament would be great. Unfortunately we don’t live in that world. Of course I don’t condone any violence against anyone. But who wouldn’t fight for their country? What would any American do if their land was being taken? Remember Pearl Harbor. The Palestinian violence is to protect what little remains of Palestine. The suicide bombers act out of despair and desperation. Three generations of Palestinians have been forced out of their homes by Israelis and into refugee camps. And the Israelis are still bulldozing Palestinians’ homes in East Jerusalem. Remember, Menachem Begin invented terrorism as his MO, and bragged about it in his first book. That’s how Israel was created, aided and abetted by US money and arms. To annex and usurp an occupied people’s country is illegal under international law. The Israelis know that, but their superior military force has always prevailed against the indigenous people.
PLAYBOY: What’s your reaction to the changes sweeping through the Arab world as throngs of demonstrators take to the streets across the region?
THOMAS: I love the new revolutionary spirit in the Middle East and North Africa. The power of the people is removing ruthless dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, and that’s only the beginning. There is no stopping this free new movement. The Arab world is waking up to the possibilities of democratic life and freedom for its people, and I am happy to see this happening in my lifetime.
PLAYBOY: Do you have a personal antipathy toward Jews themselves?
THOMAS: No. I think they’re wonderful people. They had to have the most depth. They were leaders in civil rights. They’ve always had the heart for others but not for Arabs, for some reason. I’m not anti-Jewish; I’m anti-Zionist. I am anti-Israel taking what doesn’t belong to it. If you have a home and you’re kicked out of that home, you don’t come and kick someone else out. Anti-Semite? The Israelis are not even Semites! They’re Europeans, and they’ve come from somewhere else. But even if they were Semites, they would still have no right to usurp other people’s land. There are some Israelis with a conscience and a big heart, but unfortunately they are too few.
PLAYBOY: In the wake of your anti-Israel comments, a blogger from The Atlantic argued there’s really no distinction between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. He wrote, “Thomas was fired for saying that the Jews of Israel should move to Europe, where their relatives had been slaughtered in the most devastating act of genocide in history. She believes that once the Jews are evacuated from their ancestral homeland, the world’s only Jewish country should be replaced by what would be the world’s 23rd Arab country. She believes that Palestinians deserve a country of their own but that the Jews are undeserving of a nation-state in their homeland, which has had a continuous Jewish presence for 3,000 years… ”
THOMAS: Did a Jew write this? (Editor’s note: The writer is Jeffrey Goldberg, who is Jewish.)
PLAYBOY: “…and has been the location of two previous Jewish states. This sounds like a very anti-Jewish position to me, not merely an anti-Zionist position.”
THOMAS: This is a rotten piece. I mean it’s absolutely biased and totally, who are these people? Why do they think they’re so deserving? The slaughter of Jews stopped with World War II. I had two brothers and many relatives who fought in that war against Hitler. We believed in it. Every American family was in that fight. But they were liberated since then. And yet they carry on the victimization. The US people do not know that the Israeli lobbyists have intimidated them into believing every Jew is a persecuted victim forever, while they are victimizing Palestinians.
PLAYBOY: Let’s get to something else you said more recently. In a speech in Detroit last December, you told an Arab group, “We are owned by the propagandists against the Arabs. There’s no question about that. Congress, the White House and Hollywood, Wall Street, are owned by the Zionists. No question, in my opinion. They put their money where their mouth is. We’re being pushed into a wrong direction in every way.” Do you stand by that statement?
THOMAS: Yes, I do. I know it was horrendous, but I know it’s true. Tell me it’s not true and I’ll be happy to be contradicted. I’m just saying they’re using their power, and they have power in every direction.
PLAYBOY: That stereotype of Jewish control has been around for more than a century. Do you actually think there’s a secret Jewish conspiracy at work in this country?
THOMAS: Not a secret. It’s very open. What do you mean secret?
PLAYBOY: Well, for instance, explain the connection between Hollywood and what’s happening with the Palestinians.
THOMAS: Power over the White House, power over Congress.
PLAYBOY: By way of contributions?
THOMAS: Everybody is in the pocket of the Israeli lobbies, which are funded by wealthy supporters, including those from Hollywood. Same thing with the financial markets. There’s total control.
PLAYBOY: Who are you thinking about specifically? Who are the Jews with the most influence?
THOMAS: I’m not going to name names. What, am I going to name the Ponzi guy on Wall Street or the others? No.
PLAYBOY: Then how do you make the claim that Jews are running the country?
THOMAS: I want you to look at the Congress that just came in. Do you think (New York Democratic senator Charles) Schumer and Lehtinen, whatever her name is, in Florida (Republican representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a strong supporter of Israel) are going to be pro-Arab? No. But they’re going to be very influential. Eric Cantor, the majority leader of the Republicans, do you think he’s going to be for the Arabs? Hell no! I’m telling you, you cannot get 330 votes in Congress for anything that’s pro-Arab. Nothing. If you’re not in, you’re eased out, just as Senator William Fulbright was in the 1960s (after claiming that millions of tax-deductible dollars from American philanthropies were being sent to Israel and then funneled back to the U.S. for distribution to organizations with pro-Israel positions). Congressman Paul Findley from a little old rural district in Illinois made the mistake of shaking hands with Yasir Arafat years ago. It ended up costing him his re-election. He later wrote a book called They Dare to Speak Out about how impossible it is to have a position in this country that takes on Israel. Maybe there is a handful that can, but in general you cannot speak against any Zionist movement in this country.
PLAYBOY: Do you begrudge people like Steven Spielberg? He created the Shoah Foundation to chronicle the life stories of Holocaust survivors. What’s your feeling about him?
THOMAS: There’s nothing wrong with remembering it, but why do we have to constantly remember? We’re not at fault. I mean, if they’re going to put a Holocaust museum in every city in Germany, that’s fine with me. But we didn’t do this to the Jews. Why do we have to keep paying the price and why do they keep oppressing the Palestinians? Do the Jews ever look at themselves? Why are they always right? Because they have been oppressed throughout history, I know. And they have this persecution. That’s true, but they shouldn’t use that to dominate.
PLAYBOY: In America you’re talking about a relatively small community. Jews make up roughly 2% of the US population. On a worldwide level, the percentage is well under 1%. Those numbers don’t exactly spell domination.
THOMAS: I get where you’re leading with this. You know damn well the power they have. It isn’t the 2%. It’s real power when you own the White House, when you own these other places in terms of your political persuasion. Of course they have power. You don’t deny that. You’re Jewish, aren’t you?
PLAYBOY: Yes.
THOMAS: That’s what I thought. Well, you know damn well they have power.
PLAYBOY: Why did it take you so long to speak out like this?
THOMAS: It hasn’t taken that long. I’ve told all my friends and so forth. This has been an issue for me since I first came to Washington.
PLAYBOY: You’ve kept quiet publicly since the 1940s?
THOMAS: It was certainly on my mind back then. The UN Partition Plan was being debated at the UN and in the Arab community, and I knew what the Arabs were going through since I have an Arab background. I was part of that community. Like I said, I’ve never hesitated to tell my views to all my friends. They knew exactly where I stood. But I finally wanted to speak the truth. And I think I’m old enough to get away with it. Well, almost. Not quite.
PLAYBOY: Were you surprised that people like David Duke and even Hezbollah came out and said you were courageous and a hero for them?
THOMAS: I don’t want to be a hero to anyone. I just want to be me, and I want to tell the truth. I want everyone to accept the truth. It’s horrible to say some of my best friends are Jews, but they are and they have been.
PLAYBOY: Don’t take this the wrong way, but the question many people have is, Has Helen Thomas lost her mind? You’re 90, after all. Do you still have all your faculties?
THOMAS: I resent that question! I thoroughly resent it. Why are you interviewing me if I’m crazy? It wouldn’t be worth it to you, would it?
PLAYBOY: It’s not an unreasonable question.
THOMAS: I resent it. You should apologize.
PLAYBOY: But it’s the question everyone wants answered, and you’re the one who always tells journalists to ask the hard questions.
THOMAS: They want to know if I’m crazy? You have to be crazy to criticize Israel? You have to be crazy to criticize tyranny? I learned before Hitler that you have to stand up for something. You have to stand up. We always have to take a stand against human tyranny wherever it occurs.
...
PLAYBOY: Do you picture heaven in any way? What would heaven be for you?
THOMAS: I never thought about heaven per se. I think when you’re dead, you’re dead. If anything happens after that, you just hope you don’t go to hell.
PLAYBOY: When people write your obituary…
THOMAS: Oh, I know what they’re going to say: “anti-Semite.”
PLAYBOY: That has to bother you after all your years of hard work.
THOMAS: I’m a reporter.
PLAYBOY: What’s making you emotional?
THOMAS: I’m a reporter. I know damn well what they’re going to say because they have their print, they have their ink. They don’t give a damn about the truth. They have to have it their way, and they’ll be writing my obituary.
PLAYBOY: Isn’t that their job?
THOMAS: Well, I don’t want to be treated that way. I’m sorry. But what am I supposed to do, love every Jew because they want to take Palestine? It’s a real cause with me. They should have a conscience and they don’t if that’s what they’re going to do. Is there such a thing as a conscience? I think there is. Stop taking what doesn’t belong to you! Stop killing these people. These children throw stones at them, and they shoot them. Where is the Jewish conscience? I want to know. Have some feeling. They can’t just come in and say, “This is my home,” knock on the door at three in the morning and have the Israeli military take them out. That’s what happens. And that’s what happened to the Jews in Germany. Why do they inflict that same pain on people who did nothing to them?
I sure didn’t want to cry. But I do care about people. And I don’t care what they write about me. They’ve already written it. My family will be disappointed in me for crying.
PLAYBOY: We in the public never get to see you cry. Helen Thomas has always been the picture of toughness and strength.
THOMAS: Oh, I’ve cried all my life. I’m a crybaby. It’s not that I’m soft; I just cry at the drop of a hat.
PLAYBOY: Let’s shift gears. You have literally had a front-row seat on the presidency. What should the American people know about how the White House really operates?
THOMAS: They don’t know how intense the pressure from different special interests is on the president and congressmen. Politicians more often than not give in to that pressure. These elected officials are supposed to be doing what we want them to do. But I suppose that’s the reason we have the Tea Party. People are unhappy. The trouble is, swinging to the right is always dangerous. We end up losing so much in the rush to conservatism. But even Obama has fallen down that hole. He’s pushing a conservative agenda.
PLAYBOY: The right doesn’t see Obama that way. How is Obama conservative?
THOMAS: Look at Guantánamo. With a stroke of a pen, the day after Obama took the oath he should have said, “We’re getting the hell out of here.” Same thing with Iraq and Afghanistan. There’s no reason for us to be in a war. “They’ll all come here if we don’t go there.” That is baloney. Go halfway around the world to kill and die? Why? Now the veterans can’t get jobs. I see stories every day about soldiers being liberated from Iraq only to end up unemployed. Where is Obama? How can he continue these Bush policies that were so mean and rotten and unjust? People had this impression that Obama would be a peaceful president, but there he is, as hawkish as any of them. And Hillary Clinton is no liberal either. She put out the word to “capture or kill” for Afghanistan. What would she do that for, really? Capture or kill? What does this mean? I thought, naively perhaps, that she and Obama would bring change, that they would be different. I assumed wrongly that they would be liberal because he’s black and she’s a woman. It’s maddening.
…
PLAYBOY: You certainly never had a problem asking hard questions. George W. Bush moved you to the back of the briefing room to get you off his back.
THOMAS: Actually, it was Ari Fleischer, the number one liar in the White House. He didn’t like that I was asking too many mean questions about where the Israelis were getting their arms and whatnot. So I got pushed to the back. But the first opportunity I had to challenge Bush, I did.
PLAYBOY: You asked him a bold question in 2006. You said, “Your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis, wounds of Americans and Iraqis for a lifetime. Every reason given, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true. My question is: Why did you really want to go to war?” He danced around the answer. Did you have an answer in mind when you asked that question? What do you think has driven US involvement in these recent wars?
THOMAS: You tell me.
PLAYBOY: No, you tell us.
THOMAS: Well, no president has ever told the truth about why we’re there. I think oil has a lot to do with it. I think there’s an Israel connection. Our government feels compelled to protect Israel. With Bush, some people say it was George Jr avenging for Daddy. At least Bush’s father understood what war was about. He had been in war. He was more cautious. He certainly lined up the Arab countries to support fighting the invasion of Kuwait. The Bush family has always been rich people in search of a job, but George Sr had been head of the CIA and chairman of the Republican National Committee. He knew politics and he knew foreign policy, but he didn’t give any of that to his son. Dubya was a hip-shooter. If you look at the Downing Street Memo from 2002, you see the chief of British intelligence had come here just before George Jr’s invasion of Iraq. It concludes that the president simply was determined to go to war and that he wanted to fix the facts to do it. But there were no facts. We just went to war for no reason.
PLAYBOY: So you never believed the line that the world would be “a safer place” without Saddam Hussein?
THOMAS: I think it was wrong to hang Saddam Hussein. He should have been put before an international court for war crimes and everything else. But for us to just bypass the law and have him hanged was wrong. Not that the press called the president on it. The press rallied around the flag on that one.
PLAYBOY: Who’s your most trusted news source, by the way?
THOMAS: Nobody, really. I like the liberal press. I like E J Dionne in The Washington Post. I like Sam Donaldson. I believe he’s an honest man. I loved Walter Cronkite. I certainly loved Ed Murrow. But I don’t see replicas around.
…
PLAYBOY: Is anyone asking the tough questions about Israel?
THOMAS: We’re still not getting the full story on Israel. I asked both Obama at a news conference and Hillary if they knew of any nations in the Middle East that had nuclear weapons. Obama danced around it and said, “I don’t want to speculate.” Hillary said, “Oh, Helen, you’re cute” or something to that effect. She laughed it off.
PLAYBOY: Why would our government remain quiet if Israel had nukes?
THOMAS: Years ago we made a pact with Golda Meir never to say it. In her era, they would never say it, and they can’t say it now because they can’t tell Iran and all these other countries that they have nukes. That’s my opinion. Our government won’t tell the truth, and neither will the Israelis. Everyone knows, but I can’t write “Everyone knows.” You have to attribute it to somebody. Again, you don’t see these stories in the news. You have to go to a magazine like the Nation or the offbeat press to find out what is really happening. They don’t say that in the NYT.
PLAYBOY: Or we can get our news from comedians like Jon Stewart. What’s your take on him?
THOMAS: I don’t know. He called me anti-Semitic. What is this crap? Anti-Semitic? What is he?
PLAYBOY: What about Bill Maher?
THOMAS: I like Bill Maher. Remember when he said the 9/11 bombers were not cowards? He lost his job temporarily, but he was right: Anybody who flies an airplane into a building isn’t a coward. That was too logical for people, though. You can’t be that honest. It’s like the Japanese kamikazes in WW2. They were diabolical, flying right into ships, but they certainly weren’t cowards. There are two sides to every story. I guess the trouble is certain stories just don’t sell newspapers.
PLAYBOY: Nothing’s selling newspapers these days.
THOMAS: And it’s a tragedy. I still like a newspaper in my hand. I get the Washington Post and the New York Times outside the door every morning and run to them. I like the print press. You don’t get anything in depth anymore without a newspaper. Everything is a headline, a sound bite. I worry about young people really getting to know what’s going on in our world.
PLAYBOY: How much time do you spend online?
THOMAS: Uh-uh. I’m a paper-and-pencil person. I probably should look at Facebook and Huffington Post and these other things, but I don’t. Everyone with a laptop thinks they’re a journalist and everyone with a camera thinks they’re a news photographer. Where are the standards? How can we get back to the ethics and standards of journalism? There’s no editing, no oversight. It’s just thrown to the wind. I’m afraid of what’s happening.
PLAYBOY: But you can’t deny the power of the web. Look at WikiLeaks. What did you think of those diplomatic revelations?
THOMAS: I think it’s great. It’s important to reveal what’s going on behind the scenes. We wouldn’t have known half this stuff without this information, and it’s going to change everything as far as diplomacy. It’s hard to believe we didn’t know some of this stuff before. Maybe I should have been digging into these things myself. I’m probably not a good reporter.
...
PLAYBOY: What’s your hope for the future?
THOMAS: On a political level, I hope for disarmament. Billions and billions are being spent every week on the war in Afghanistan. We have 700 military bases around the world. What do you think it costs to keep that war machine running? It’s not working. I thought Obama would be for peace, but he’s not. There are no peacemakers left. There’s no antiwar movement to speak of. America just keeps going, keeps fighting, keeps spending. I want the killing to stop.
PLAYBOY: How would you like to be remembered?
THOMAS: As the person who asked why. That’s what I want as my epitaph: “Why?” It’s always been my favorite question, even though it rarely gets answered. As I said before, because of what happened recently, people are going to remember me a certain way. The truth is, I don’t hate anybody. I care deeply about people. I care for the poor, the sick, the lame, the harmed, those who’ve been treated unjustly. I like the fact that you asked me if I’m nuts. People think you’re nuts if you take a stand in this life. I’ve always cared about what happens in the world, and I think what the Israelis are doing is wrong. We have to care about our fellow man, and we don’t. Somehow we’ve lost that sense. It’s become almost a sin to care. But we are all God’s children, right?
PLAYBOY: Do you believe in God?
THOMAS: Who knows? I was raised Greek Orthodox, but I never understood what was going on. In college I moved away from religion, and then when I went to work I would go to church with the president. I’d pray to whatever god the president prayed to. I prayed to all of them, just in case. Now I just pray in hopes that something good will happen. I pray to whoever the gods may be.
...

I have omitted parts of this very lengthy interview as published in Playboy’s April 2011 issue.To read the Helen Thomas interview in its entirety, click here.

For those of you in Saudi Arabia or where the Playboy site might be blocked from viewing, you might try accessing this site to read the interview in its entirety.

Click here for Paul Findley's write-up "Helen Thomas Deserves Praise."

Jeddah's Il Villaggio Restaurant Presents Its Mediterranean Festival

2011-03-11T20:14:00.012+03:00

WIN a FABULOUS DINNER FOR TWO in Jeddah at Il Villaggio Restaurant! (transportation not included)

Il Villaggio Restaurant celebrates the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy with a Mediterranean Festival featuring the iconic ingredients used in traditional Italian dishes. The festival takes place March 14th through March 17th in Jeddah.

"Sample a menu with ingredients which have been used for a very long time in traditional recipes and are still among the all time favorites today. Taste heritage by indulging in authentic dishes which have their origin in different parts of Italy. Experience a true Italian Menu. Learn through food the history and events what created Italy 150 years ago and made Italy what it is today!

This menu will be served from 14th March to 17th March in the Luigi Restaurant at Il Villaggio Restaurants & Lounges. In addition we also offer cooking lessons with insights about the history of Italian food during the same period.

If you like to reserve a table or want to inquire and receive more details, please contact us by email: agm@ilvillaggio-complex.net or telephone 02-668-8233.

We will be happy to welcome you and your family, friends or colleagues during this special week at the restaurant or any time."

From the Management of Il Villaggio Restaurant & Lounges, Al Andalus Street, Jeddah - Telephone 02-668-8233

For a chance to WIN A DINNER FOR TWO at Il Villaggio Restaurant, LEAVE A COMMENT ON THIS POST telling me what your FAVORITE ITALIAN DISH is. Be sure to include your NAME and EMAIL ADDRESS. ACT QUICKLY! The deadline for entering is MARCH 13. Two lucky winners will be announced very soon.

Go to Il Villaggio's Facebook page.

To RSVP to the Mediterranean Festival Event, or to view the Sample Menu, CLICK HERE.

For more info, check out their website at www.mediterraneans.me

Here is a quick video tour of the restaurant interior by the MadTraveller:

Saudi Regime Braces for Democracy Protests

2011-03-10T09:49:00.008+03:00

The following is the transcript from a radio interview with Mohammed Al Qatani, an economist and leading Saudi civil rights activist, conducted by Eleanor Hall, a journalist for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She is the host of a daily radio broadcast news show called The World Today, which airs in Australia and in the Asia Pacific region. She has worked as a journalist in both radio and television in many different countries around the world, including the United States. She is based in Sydney.

ELEANOR HALL: While world leaders are understandably focused on the crisis in Libya could the world's largest oil producer be the next in line for violent change?

Saudi Arabian activists have called for a day of rage after Friday prayers tomorrow.

While large protests are unheard of in Saudi Arabia more than 32,000 people have so far supported the call on Facebook and thousands have also signed petitions calling for the monarchy which has Islamic religious backing to be bolstered by an elected parliament.

The Saudi government is noticeably nervous. Last week the regime announced a $37 billion aid package to the Saudi people and warned activists that security forces would crack down on any demonstrations.

The senior Islamic Council also deeming the protests un-Islamic. And there is already a big security presence on the streets.

One of Saudi Arabia's leading civil rights activists says the government has good reason to be nervous.

Mohammad al-Qahtani is the head of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association.

He said he hopes there is no violence tomorrow but that he just can't predict how many people may turn up after Friday prayers.

He spoke to me earlier from the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Mohammad al-Qahtani, who is organising this and how big do you expect this demonstration to be tomorrow?

MOHAMMAD AL-QAHTANI: Well to be frank with you we don't know who's behind it. You know they just publish stuff on Facebook but I think people are really motivated after what happened in Egypt and elsewhere.

The question is will it turn out to be a huge crowd or a small crowd or none is open. We don't know.

ELEANOR HALL: Why have Saudis not been on the streets demanding change in the numbers that we've seen in other countries in the region?

Is it because of state repression or that there's not such desperation for change in Saudi Arabia?

MOHAMMAD AL-QAHTANI: Well no there is desperation for change. You know I'll tell you there are injustice; there are grievances. People are thrown in prison arbitrarily and indefinitely.

But the problem is people are not really organised to work in a group. State oppression of course is a factor and it's quite effective.

You know a couple of years ago they arrest a couple of guys intending to go to a public sit-in and they're still in prison for a couple of years for their having the intention to do so.

Well the other element also - just a couple of days ago the government announced these restrictions forbidding demonstration and public protestation. So they use these restrictions to cripple the people and control the people.

Does it still have effect? It might. But it has weakened. And wait and see.

ELEANOR HALL: So you say that this is an anonymous internet call for the protests. There have also been petitions calling for change. How significant are these?

MOHAMMAD AL-QAHTANI: Well I think the petitions are an interesting phenomena because in the past you have a petition and you wait for a few years to get another petition.

But within two weeks you have four or five petitions and people are demanding exactly the same thing - establishing a constitutional monarchy.

So I think the change and the feeling for change is in the air.

But how much you will see a response by the regime by making concessions - I think they are not willing to do so unless they see real threats.

I think the coming few weeks will make the picture more clear.

ELEANOR HALL: What sort of size of protest would represent a real threat to the king?

MOHAMMAD AL-QAHTANI: Well see in the past Friday there were at least three demonstration in different cities.

And they made concessions to a Shia sect - they freed their political prisoners and they made promises for them to release so-called forgotten prisoners who have been in prison for more than a decade.

ELEANOR HALL: The king last week seemed to be trying to head off a revolt against him by handing out several billion dollars worth of social benefits.

Is that likely to succeed in dampening enthusiasm for change?

MOHAMMAD AL-QAHTANI: You see the issue is not really about money. People are really yearning for liberty, freedom, freedom of expression and so on and so forth.

You know people really need change. They want to see their fundamental rights be respected.

ELEANOR HALL: Just how restrictive is daily life for Saudi people under Sharia law?

MOHAMMAD AL-QAHTANI: Just imagine yourself a woman living in Saudi Arabia. It's tough.

And also let's say that you want to write your opinion and publish it on your website or blog - then you could be endangering yourself.

They do not respect really fundamental rights that distinguish a human being from an animal. So it's pretty tough.

ELEANOR HALL: You say that people want a greater role in the government. Is the king personally hated?

MOHAMMAD AL-QAHTANI: No not at all. I think the king is popular. But he could not deliver because there are people who are throwing obstacles in his way to introduce genuine reform to his people.

I think these tumultuous events that just happened throughout the Middle East might give them a chance to present genuine reform steps to his people maybe in the near future.

ELEANOR HALL: Is it significant that almost two-thirds of Saudi Arabia's population is under the age of 30? Is that significant in driving the mood for change within your country?

MOHAMMAD AL-QAHTANI: Most definitely. I think the revolt in Egypt in particular was led by these youngsters.

Likewise here with this demographic phenomenon we have it here in Saudi Arabia. And they see by their eyes the failure of the regime to provide jobs, genuine education. And they feel that they are really marginalised.

ELEANOR HALL: So is the regime showing any signs that it may compromise?

MOHAMMAD AL-QAHTANI: Not at all. I don't think they are willing really to make any concessions to the people.

So unless you know people showed up in great number then they might. But by then it's going to be too late.

ELEANOR HALL: So do you fear that if there is no compromise there could be violence - lives could be lost?

MOHAMMAD AL-QAHTANI: Well I hope not. I hope it's going to be peaceful. You see a lot of police cruisers tonight you know circling Riyadh streets.

On my way to my home tonight I've seen tens of police cruisers. And also you have police unmarked cars.

So I think it's wait and see. I won't be really surprised that if none show in the protestation.

But again no-one could predicted Egypt on the other hand and Tunisia.

I hope the police will not crackdown protesters. I hope by maybe tomorrow night they could announce something huge that could placate the people - that they could make promises to free political prisoners, open election of parliament, writing a constitution.

ELEANOR HALL: Clearly the regime is wary about protests. But if it is very small or indeed non-existent, is that the end in terms of the push for change?

MOHAMMAD AL-QAHTANI: Absolutely not. I think people knew what was going on. They knew their rights. And they have learned the lesson of what happened in other Middle Eastern countries.

It's not going to be all over soon if people do not show up.

ELEANOR HALL: That's Mohammad al-Qahtani, the head of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association. He was speaking there from the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Robert Fisk Article About Saudi Arabia

2011-03-06T08:26:00.005+03:00

The following article was written by Robert Fisk and was published March 5, 2011, in The Independent. Mr. Fisk is a British author and award-winning journalist who has been an international news reporter for many years and knows intimately the politics and workings of the Middle East region.

Saudis Mobilise Thousands of Troops to Quell Growing Revolt

By Robert Fisk, Middle East Correspondent for The Independent

Saudi Arabia was yesterday drafting up to 10,000 security personnel into its north-eastern Shia Muslim provinces, clogging the highways into Dammam and other cities with busloads of troops in fear of next week's "day of rage" by what is now called the "Hunayn Revolution".

Saudi Arabia's worst nightmare – the arrival of the new Arab awakening of rebellion and insurrection in the kingdom – is now casting its long shadow over the House of Saud. Provoked by the Shia majority uprising in the neighbouring Sunni-dominated island of Bahrain, where protesters are calling for the overthrow of the ruling al-Khalifa family, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is widely reported to have told the Bahraini authorities that if they do not crush their Shia revolt, his own forces will.

The opposition is expecting at least 20,000 Saudis to gather in Riyadh and in the Shia Muslim provinces of the north-east of the country in six days, to demand an end to corruption and, if necessary, the overthrow of the House of Saud. Saudi security forces have deployed troops and armed police across the Qatif area – where most of Saudi Arabia's Shia Muslims live – and yesterday would-be protesters circulated photographs of armoured vehicles and buses of the state-security police on a highway near the port city of Dammam.

Although desperate to avoid any outside news of the extent of the protests spreading, Saudi security officials have known for more than a month that the revolt of Shia Muslims in the tiny island of Bahrain was expected to spread to Saudi Arabia. Within the Saudi kingdom, thousands of emails and Facebook messages have encouraged Saudi Sunni Muslims to join the planned demonstrations across the "conservative" and highly corrupt kingdom. They suggest – and this idea is clearly co-ordinated – that during confrontations with armed police or the army next Friday, Saudi women should be placed among the front ranks of the protesters to dissuade the Saudi security forces from opening fire.

If the Saudi royal family decides to use maximum violence against demonstrators, US President Barack Obama will be confronted by one of the most sensitive Middle East decisions of his administration. In Egypt, he only supported the demonstrators after the police used unrestrained firepower against protesters. But in Saudi Arabia – supposedly a "key ally" of the US and one of the world's principal oil producers – he will be loath to protect the innocent.

So far, the Saudi authorities have tried to dissuade their own people from supporting the 11 March demonstrations on the grounds that many protesters are "Iraqis and Iranians". It's the same old story used by Ben Ali of Tunisia and Mubarak of Egypt and Bouteflika of Algeria and Saleh of Yemen and the al-Khalifas of Bahrain: "foreign hands" are behind every democratic insurrection in the Middle East.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Mr Obama will be gritting their teeth next Friday in the hope that either the protesters appear in small numbers or that the Saudis "restrain" their cops and security; history suggests this is unlikely. When Saudi academics have in the past merely called for reforms, they have been harassed or arrested. King Abdullah, albeit a very old man, does not brook rebel lords or restive serfs telling him to make concessions to youth. His £27bn bribe of improved education and housing subsidies is unlikely to meet their demands.

An indication of the seriousness of the revolt against the Saudi royal family comes in its chosen title: Hunayn. This is a valley near Mecca, the scene of one of the last major battles of the Prophet Mohamed against a confederation of Bedouins in AD630. The Prophet won a tight victory after his men were fearful of their opponents. The reference in the Koran, 9: 25-26, as translated by Tarif el-Khalidi, contains a lesson for the Saudi princes: "God gave you victory on many battlefields. Recall the day of Hunayn when you fancied your great numbers.

"So the earth, with all its wide expanse, narrowed before you and you turned tail and fled. Then God made his serenity to descend upon his Messenger and the believers, and sent down troops you did not see – and punished the unbelievers." The unbelievers, of course, are supposed – in the eyes of the Hunayn Revolution – to be the King and his thousand princes.

Like almost every other Arab potentate over the past three months, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia suddenly produced economic bribes and promised reforms when his enemy was at the gates. Can the Arabs be bribed? Their leaders can, perhaps, especially when, in the case of Egypt, Washington was offering it the largest handout of dollars – $1.5bn (£800m) – after Israel. But when the money rarely trickles down to impoverished and increasingly educated youth, past promises are recalled and mocked. With oil prices touching $120 a barrel and the Libyan debacle lowering its production by up to 75 per cent, the serious economic – and moral, should this interest the Western powers – question, is how long the "civilised world" can go on supporting the nation whose citizens made up almost all of the suicide killers of 9/11?

The Arabian peninsula gave the world the Prophet and the Arab Revolt against the Ottomans and the Taliban and 9/11 and – let us speak the truth – al-Qa'ida. This week's protests in the kingdom will therefore affect us all – but none more so than the supposedly conservative and definitely hypocritical pseudo-state, run by a company without shareholders called the House of Saud.

Sheikh Hamza Yusuf Video with Women in Saudi Arabia

2011-03-01T20:12:00.003+03:00

American-born Sheikh Hamza Yusuf became a Muslim in 1977 and has studied Islam with scholars from around the world since that time. He is one of the most visible and respected Islamic leaders in America and founded the Zaytuna Institute and Zaytuna College, both in California, to provide Islamic education for those desiring it. He also leads religious pilgrimmages called The Sacred Caravan to Saudi Arabia to visit the holy sites of Islam each year.

I think you will find the videos below (Part 1 and Part 2) of this frank discussion of Islam and how it relates to women quite interesting. In the videos, Sheikh Hamza meets with a group of women in Saudi Arabia. Much of the discussion centers on how the interpretation of Islam in Saudi Arabia is perverted (for lack of a better word) and how the practise of Islam in KSA is not necessarily what the religion intended.

New Book Explores Lives of American-Born Muslim Women

2011-02-28T19:03:00.004+03:00

(Thanks to Lisa Mabe for the following writeup about this new book which is soon to be released)

New Book Explores Lives of American-Born Muslim Women

WASHINGTON D.C. USA – February 28, 2011 – Islam has become one of the hottest of hot button topics in America. Time Magazine featured the rise of Islamophobia on its cover (August 30, 2010) and attacks on Muslims and mosques are taking place regularly across the United States. Pundits and politicians raise the stakes by questioning whether it is possible for an American to be both a good Muslim and a good citizen. Muslim American women are the subject of endless discussions regarding their role in society, their veils as symbols of oppression or of freedom, their identity and their patriotism.

In this polarized climate, a new book challenges stereotypes about being Muslim in America through the stories of forty women. I Speak for Myself: American Women on Being Muslim (May 2, 2011, White Cloud Press) brings together a diverse group of women, all born and raised in the United States, telling their stories of faith, family, and country.

The book editors are Maria Ebrahimji, executive editorial producer at CNN in Atlanta, and Zahra Suratwala, a writer and editor who owns Zahra Ink, a writing firm in Chicago. The editors want to fill a gap in current literature on American Islam by bringing out the stories of American-born Muslim women between the ages of 20 and 40. Ebrahimji notes that “As a member of the mainstream media, I am frequently exposed to the stereotyping of my faith, and this book was created to present the public with more candid, realistic portraits of a diverse group of women who are proud of their faith and their country.”

Readers of I Speak for Myself are presented with a kaleidoscope of deeply personal stories. A common theme linking these intimate self-portraits is the way each woman uniquely defies labeling, simply by defining for herself what it means to be American and Muslim and female. Each story is a contribution to the larger narrative of life stories and life work of a new generation of Muslim women.

Though the book’s official release date is May 2, it is currently available now for pre-order on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and White Cloud Press. The suggested retail price is $16.95.

The book has already caught the attention of thought leaders who are calling the book an important addition to the literature on religious pluralism
in America.

Jim Wallis, founder of the Sojourners magazine and faith community calls I Speak for Myself “a very important contribution to the growing interfaith dialogue in this country.”

Her Majesty Queen Noor notes that “By telling their stories they offer us new perspectives that are vital to the peace building process, and through their honesty and courage they are making a lasting contribution to the search for cross-cultural understanding.”

Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women International says that this is “a must read for anyone curious to understand Islam from a woman’s and an American-Muslim perspective. I Speak for Myself is the story of every woman embodied in voices of today’s American Muslim woman.”

Bestselling author and school builder Greg Mortenson (Three Cups of Tea) feels that “this collection of essays . . . is empowering and inspiring, and a vital part of any education.”

“In an era where women’s empowerment is essential, these are women who have the ability, through their stories and their work, to empower women all over the world to truly speak for themselves.” Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize Winner & Founder, Grameen Bank.

For more information and dialogue on our book and American Muslim women, please join us at www.facebook.com/ispeakformyself, www.twitter.com/ispeakformyself and our website, www.ispeakformyself.com.

Media Contact: Lisa Mabe, Hewar Social Communications, +1 202.834.4498, lisa@hewarcommunications.com

From SaudiWoman: The Arab Revolution Saudi Update

2011-02-21T08:44:00.004+03:00

The following is a reprint of a post from SaudiWoman:

Remember, in a former post, when I said that Saudis were captivated and shocked by what happened in Tunis and Egypt but hadn’t collectively made up their mind about it? Well it appears that they have. Everywhere I go and everything I read points to a revolution in our own country in the foreseeable future. However we are still on the ledge and haven’t jumped yet.

I know that some analysts are worried particularly of Saudi Arabia being taken over by Al Qaeda or a Sunni version of the Iranian Islamic Revolution. Calm down. Besides my gut feeling (which is rarely wrong), the overwhelming majority of people speaking out and calling out for a revolution are people who want democracy and civil rights and not more of our current Arab tradition based adaptation of Sharia. My theory of why that is, is that Al Qaeda has already exhausted its human resources here. The available muttawas, are career muttawas (fatwa sheikhs) and minor muttawas (PVPV) of convenience both paid by the government and do not want the current win-win deal between them and the government to sour. So it’s unlikely that they would actively seek change. Actually quite the opposite, they will resist and delay as much as they can. Fortunately the winds of change can’t be deterred by a PVPV cruiser.

Last night Prince Talal Bin Abdul Alaziz, the king’s half-brother, did a TV interview on BBC Arabia that was widely watched and discussed. In it he warned of an upcoming storm if reforms aren’t dealt with right now. He used the word “evils” to describe what would happen if King Abdullah passed away before ordering the required changes. Prince Talal also strongly advocated a constitutional monarchy and democracy as long as it’s similar to what they have in Kuwait and Jordon. However he hinted that there were people in the ruling family who do not believe in change.

This whole past week was eventful. The first political party to form during King’s Abdullah’s reign, the Islamic Umma Party, has been arrested. According to the party’s released statement, they were informed that they would not be released until they sign a document promising that they will abandon all political aspirations.

In Qatif, a Shia majority area in Eastern Saudi, there is talk that there was a protest demanding the release of political prisoners yesterday. Ahmed Al Omran from SaudiJeans tweeted a pamphlet that was being distributed in Qatif, calling for protests today, Feb 18th, at 8pm.

A hashtag on Twitter, #EgyEffectSa, about the effect of Egypt on Saudi was popular, with a lot of courageous Saudis speaking their mind. The common thread across most of the tweets was for human rights, freedom of speech, democracy and government accountability.

Saving the best for last, a 6100 strong and growing group on Facebook has been started. The group is only for Saudis and you need to be approved to join. I’ve translated their demands:

The People want to Reform the Government Campaign

To support the right of the Saudi people and their legitimate aspirations:
1 – a constitutional monarchy between the king and government.
2 – a written constitution approved by the people in which governing powers will be determined.
3 – transparency, accountability in fighting corruption
4 – the Government in the service of the people
5 – legislative elections.
6 – public freedoms and respect for human rights
7 – allowing civil society institutions
8 – full citizenship and the abolition of all forms of discrimination.
9 – Adoption of the rights of women and non-discrimination against them.
10 – an independent and fair judiciary.
11 – impartial development and equitable distribution of wealth.
12 – to seriously address the problem of unemployment

Impressive, right?! And if these demands aren’t met, according to a lot of the discussions on the group’s page, there will be a protest in Riyadh on Olaya street March 11th. I was also impressed by their code of conduct in which they committed to no sectarianism, no violence or incitement to violence, and no hate speech.

Everyone is holding their breath and delaying doing anything drastic until the King is back. Reports vary, some say he is expected Monday, others say Wednesday. Either way, whatever he does when he gets back will decide the fate of our country. In my opinion, the least he can do is draw up and announce a clear succession that will carry the throne from the brothers’ generation into their sons’. As this is an area of great concern and instability for Saudis because we fear that without a clear and public succession, we might have a civil war between factions of the ruling family. King Abdullah should name names such as heir1 then heir2 then heir3…etc so that the fifth or sixth is a ten or twelve year old. Thus stability is maintained fifty years into the future. Another thing that needs to be done is to aggressively fight corruption and promote transparency and accountability for everyone no matter who they are. If these two issues are taken care of as soon as he gets off the plane, then I predict that things just might calm down and a lot of people won’t be so anxious for change. If not, then the campaign above will just grow bigger and bigger and many more will crop up until eventually the Saudi people will cross the revolution threshold.

Please click here to go to SaudiWoman's blog and read the more than 100 comments on this post.

"The Ignorant Saudi Sheikh" by Khaled Amayreh

2011-02-08T22:33:00.005+03:00

Khaled Amayreh is a Palestinian journalist (pictured right) who has been censored and jailed for his outspoken views. He received his advanced degrees from universities in the US and has worked for many news sources throughout the Middle East. The following article was written by Mr. Amayreh in response to remarks made by Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti (the highest ranking religious official) regarding the revolutionary events in Egypt and Tunisia. It was published in MWC News, Media with Conscience.

It has been reported that the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh, condemned the ongoing revolution against the tyrannical regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

According to reports from Riyadh, the Sheikh condemned anti-regime protests in all Arab countries, calling demonstrations "chaotic acts" carried out by the enemies of Islam in order to "divide" the Muslim world.

The Saudi government outlaws all sorts of demonstrations which government-backed puritanical clerics consider a form of heresy that is incompatible with Islam.

There is no doubt that the edict of the Saudi Sheikh (pictured left), which by the way was not issued for the first time, reflects a primitive mentality and ignorance in understanding the true spirit of Islam. The sheikh justifies his ignorant opinion by arguing that rising up against an oppressive despot would cause "fitna" which means division or tumult or confusion.

However, it seems it doesn't occur to the sheikh, who seems to be living in the middle ages, not in the 21st century, that the fitna of living under tyranny and succumbing to organized oppression by brutal despots exceeds by far whatever fitna that might result from rising up against an oppressive authority.

Let us take Tunisia as an example. The former Tunisian dictator Zeinulabedeen bin Ali, who has been given asylum in the land of Prophet Muhammed (S), sought rather frantically to discourage people from observing Islam. He imprisoned and tortured thousands of Muslim activists for just frequenting the mosques. He instructed his repressive police apparatus to hound every religious person and fight every form of religiosity.

Indeed, in order to be able to access the mosque unhindered, especially during dawn prayers, one had to obtain a special permit from the police. Women, young and old, who donned a headscarf (I am not speaking about the full headdress veil or Niqab that is common in Saudi Arabia or Iran), had their scarves snatched in the streets by the police. Any objection to this humiliation would land the objector in prison immediately. In short, every possible effort was made by the brutal regime to discourage people from practicing their own faith.

Incidentally, Saudi Arabia, which claims, mendaciously of course, to follow Islam to the letter, maintained good, even cordial relations with the thuggish regime of President Zineulabedeen bin Ali.

And now this so-called Mufti is telling us that this anti-Islam policy must not be resisted, protested or even demonstrated against for fear of fitna.

Well, this kind of submissive, subservient and slavish Islam is what enabled the decadent Saudi dynasty to enslave and ransack a huge country that could have become the richest nation on earth, thanks to its huge oil revenue. This is what made an essentially illiterate and nearly senile monarch, who can't even write or read his own name, stand at the helm of the very country where the glorious message of Islam was revealed to mankind through the Prophet Muhammed (s) who said "The greatest form of Jihad is uttering a word of truth in front of a oppressive king."

Needless to say, this pseudo-Islam which is being promoted by this Saudi sheikh, which dreads telling oppressors "you are oppressor" for fear of fitna is what makes adulterers and sodomites rule with an iron fist the land of Islam in Mecca and Madina and surrender Muslim sovereignty to the United States on a silver platter. They simply have a sheepish people that is told it is haram to criticize the decadent and oppressive rulers, let alone demonstrate against them. It is very much like the people of the Pharaoh who as the Quran said led his people to hellfire because they refused to rise up against him.

So, one wonders what kind of Quran does this ignorant mufti is reading from? There are hundreds of verses in the Holy Quran urging Muslims to resist and oppose oppression, so why does this so-called mufti overlook all these ayas? Isn't he by so doing displeasing the Almighty in order to please the decadent Saudi family?

Didn't the prophet (s), in the following authentic hadith, urge Muslims to resist evil: "Whoever of you sees a wrong done, he should try to change it, first with his hand, second with his tongue, and finally, if he couldn't, he should denounce it in his heart, which represents the weakest point of faith."

In another hadith, the Prophet said "If my Umma dreads telling the oppressor you are oppressor, it is finished."

I would further ask this sheikh: What are Muslims supposed to do when they see their rulers become servants for Israel and tools for their own enemies as well as thieves plundering billions of dollars from their people's coffers? Are they supposed to just sit down on their comfortable sofas and watch tyrants violate people's dignity, usurp people's rights and ruin the people's wealth, pending the arrival of the Day of Reckoning?

There is a prophetic tradition saying that two categories of people, if they don't deviate from the right path, the umma will be alright, but if they get corrupt, the entire umma will get corrupt. It was asked "who are they O Prophet of Allah." He said "the ulema (scholars) and rulers"

I urge this misguided mufti to revert to true religion and not to pay attention to the sticks of carrots of the House of Saud. They won't help him on the Day when neither family nor wealth would help, except he that appears before God, with a pure heart.

NOTE: I myself have written about this religious scholar before: Noor - TV Soap a Threat to Islam; and Divorce Saudi Style.

The Arab Revolution's Effect on Saudis

2011-02-04T22:40:00.005+03:00

The following is an essay written recently by my friend and fellow blogger, Saudi Woman. She is a modern well-educated Saudi woman whose insight into the culture and mindset of Saudi society is always of interest. The SaudiWoman Blog has been nominated for a 2011 Bloggie Weblog Award for Best Asian Blog. I would urge you to take the time to vote for her outstanding blog for this honor.

With what’s going on right now in Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Tunis and Egypt, I get a lot of questions about how Saudis are taking it and what’s the reaction. The short answer is they are shocked and captivated but haven’t made up their minds about any of it.

The long answer is Saudi Arabia is a country where 40% of the population is under 14 years old, unemployment is rampant and the conservative religious approach is the key to the majority. These three ingredients are a dangerous mixture, and add to that the now available social media tools, and you have a bomb waiting for detonation. So why has nothing happened?

We have been faced with defeat over the last three generations. First it was with the Ottomans and I can’t tell you the countless times I’ve heard stories about how my great-grandparents generation faced off with the Turks in Qaseem. There are even walls still standing with bullet holes from then. Then my grandparents’ generation faced the creation of Israel. Every family knows a Palestinian refugee or had someone in their family killed or injured; my own grandfather was maimed in 1948 when Israeli forces bombed the hospital he was being treated at. Then my parents’ generation witnessed the fall of Jamal AbdulNaser’s high hopes and grand plans. After that every country in the region had its own version of dictatorship and people suppression evolve so that in the end you had different countries with different names but all sharing the same tactics and the same system. People have lost hope in being represented politically and have adapted and figured out other ways to move forward in life.

This is the context and the lenses through which our young people are watching what’s going on in the region. And this is why that the fact that there was an uprising is not as important as the aftermath of that uprising.

They are watching, though. All over the country, all these Saudis who rarely watch or read the news and their only interests in doing so are for more local social openness or conservativeness (depending on their background), are now carefully observing what’s going on in neighboring countries. Saudis who didn’t know what the channel number for AlJazeera News was on their receivers now have it saved on their favorites list. University and high school students are now watching the news and social media feeds in their study breaks instead of a rerun of Friends. It’s a new atmosphere. The thing lacking is analysis or a discussion on what it means for us.

The only tangible effect is more outspokenness in their criticism of how the Saudi government was ill-prepared for the Jeddah floods. In just three days from the first Friday after the floods to last Sunday, there were one hundred and ten opinion pieces in Saudi newspapers condemning what happened and criticizing how the government handled things. Also Shiekh Salman Al Ouda broadcast an unprecedented episode of his MBC show where he spoke about how the government must listen to Saudis' demands for more transparency and spoke highly of the movements in Tunis and Egypt. And then Ali Al Olayani, a popular TV presenter, also dedicated a frank and brave show where YouTube videos uploaded by citizens in Jeddah were shown. And the most recent were reports of protesters in Jeddah with some being arrested and there was even a video that was taken down a day later of the protest where you can see men and women marching down a Jeddah street.

We are only at the beginning and the only thing that has been determined is that Arabs are fed up and that we won’t back down.

To read more of Saudi Woman's thought provoking posts on important issues facing Saudi Arabia, here is the link to her blog.

Jackass (Saudi Version)

2011-02-02T11:43:00.002+03:00

People get quite creative in the country of Saudi Arabia where there is just not much to do.

Protests in Jeddah After the Flood

2011-01-29T04:11:00.006+03:00

With the eyes of the world watching the events unfolding in Egypt, citizens of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, also staged a peaceful protest of their own today in reaction to this past week's severe flooding of the city caused by unusual torrential rains. It appears as though nothing much has been done since last year's horrible flooding, nor has anyone been held accountable for the bad city planning and corruption which is to blame.

UPDATE 29JAN2011 - Well it's no surprise that the original video has been completely removed from YouTube. On Feb. 6, I found another video which is now posted - we'll see how long this one stays up on YouTube.

For more insight on the desperate situation in Jeddah due to the flooding, please read this post on Haphazard by a fellow blogger.

Jeddah Flood Victims Need Help

2011-01-29T01:08:00.004+03:00

Jeddah flood victims need your help NOW!!!

Several NGOs and YIG (Young Initiative Group) have been tirelessly helping flood victims since last Wednesday's devastating rains. YIG is asking for your help and donations. Please donate, water bottles, food, clothes, blankets, flashlights etc. Please bring your items to AL-Harithy Exhibition Center also known as Jeddah Center for Forums and Events which located on the corner of Hera Street and Madinah Rd. Driving directions are below.

Al Harithy Exhibition center is open for everyone! If you can volunteer or donate needed items, it is open from 9am-9pm starting today, Friday, January 28, 2010. They will continue to take donations at this location for several more days. It is imperative that you get your donations there as soon as possible.

Females are needed for buying, receiving, sorting and packing the donations received. They will be working inside the Exhibition Center. Males with 4X4 cars are needed on the field. Gentlemen are asked to be available in the parking lot and be there in the morning or as soon as possible to register. You will be assigned to a group to head to a specific area for delivery and distribution and to support the groups which they are assigned to.

Females are more than welcome anytime to participate inside the Exhibition Center to help sorting and packing the donations received.

Please do not forget to register once you enter. YIG would like to keep track of all volunteers. If students need community service hours, please make sure you indicate that upon signing in. If you are younger than 18 years of age, you must have your parents approval to volunteer. YIG and all other organizations involved do not take any liability for damage to vehicles or individuals while volunteering. Please be aware of this disclaimer.

For further information, please join the YIG (Young Initiative Group) Facebook group page for constant updates.

Thank you!

Best Regards,
Zulikha Hussain
Independent Consultant
Interfaith Activist/Youth Activist

Increase awareness + Increase tolerance + enrich ourselves and others. = Peaceful world

Directions to Al-Harithy Exhibition Center

From the City:

Following the signs for the airport or for Madina, leave Jeddah City on Madina Road going north. Prepare to leave Madina Road at the Hera'a Street exit. Pass the Aramex offices on your right and go straight ahead at the traffic lights. Then with the Exhibition Centre on your right, take the first right turn.

From the North:

After passing the airport, leave Madina Road at the Hera'a Street Exit and make a U-turn under the Flyover. With the Exhibition Centre on your right, take the first right turn.

From the East & South:

The roads from the Jizan & the south and Riyadh & the east join the main highway from Makkah and the Jeddah Ring Road. Once on the Ring Road, follow the signs for the airport and Madina. Ignore all signs for the city centre or the port.
Leave the Ring Road following the sign for the South (Saudia) Terminal of the airport, then with the airport on your right, follow the signs for Jeddah City. Do not take the airport terminal slip road.
At the intersection with Madina Road (options for Madina, Corniche or City Centre), follow the City Centre sign to join Madina Road going south. Leave Madina Road at the Hera'a Street exit and make a U-turn under the Flyover.
With the Exhibition Centre on your right, take the first right turn.

To see more photos and read more about the severe flooding that Jeddah experienced this past week:

Arab News "Jeddah Flood, Photo Gallery"

Arab News "Flood Hit Jeddah Still in Shock"

Arab News "Jeddah Flood Death Toll Rises to 11"

There are also many videos posted on YouTube about the Jeddah Flood of 2011.

Jeddah Flooding - January 26, 2011

2011-01-26T21:09:00.005+03:00

These are videos from the most recent flooding to occur in Jeddah just today. In November 2009, there was also severe flooding, and the number of casualties was widely believed to be greatly under-reported.

Widespread corruption is to blame. Contracts were not fulfilled, monies were absconded by unscrupulous businessmen, and the people are left to suffer every time it rains in the city of Jeddah.

Luckily I am not in Jeddah right now.

2011 Weblog Award Nominations

2011-01-08T22:30:00.006+03:00

The 2011 Bloggie Awards nominations are open now until Sunday, January 16th. The Bloggies is the longest running and most prestigious blogging awards contest in the blogosphere.

The Bloggies nominating ballot is BIG - there are 29 categories! Some of the categories are for geographical areas, travel, gossip, photography, entertainment, politics, parenting, humor, writing, fashion, science, and so on. You can take a look at the 2010 Bloggies and check out some of the outstanding blogs nominated for categories that you are interested in.

If you are going to make a nomination, you must nominate a minimum of at least three different blogs. You may only submit one nomination ballot, but you can nominate several blogs in the various categories. You will then receive an email with a link in it for you to click on - that will then register your nominations.

Susie's Big Adventure has been nominated the past two years in the Asian category, winning in 2009. If you can spare a few minutes to nominate my blog again, I would really appreciate it! Thanks so much!

Click here to go to the 2011 Bloggies Nominations Page.

Whew!

2011-01-06T17:31:00.002+03:00

This past week my hubby Adnan took me out to take photos. Photography is one of my hobbies, and since there's not much else for me to do, going out to take photos around the city has become a treat for me and has become one of my favorite things to do here. There is still quite an aversion to cameras in Saudi Arabia - especially by women. Photographs of uncovered women (with their hair, faces, or some skin showing) have been used to blackmail women for money or to force them to have sex with the blackmailer or other unseemly things. If they were to be exposed, the photos would bring disgrace to the women and their families. When out in public it is perfectly legal here to take photos now, although people are still uncomfortable about it. Taking photos of certain areas, like government buildings and the place where public executions are carried out, is prohibited. It's a shame because many of the government buildings are really beautiful. I don't quite understand why a photo of a building is a problem, but that's the way it is.

I had asked my husband to take me to an area of the city that has some sculptures that I haven't been able to photograph yet because it is so far away and we don't get down there very often. So we left the house bright and early at 7am on a weekend day because traffic would be lighter at that time. Many of my photos are taken from a moving vehicle because it's just about impossible to pull over and take time to lay up my shots when traffic is heavy. Adnan pulled over so I could get out and take some photos of some nearby sculptures. I told him that there was a sign that said "No Photography!" but he just said to hurry up and get my shots and get back in the car. As I was taking my last shot, a police car drove by. Damn! I got back into the car and Adnan pulled out into the street headed for the next set of sculptures. The police car slowed down, let us pass him, and then he put his flashing lights on and used the loud speaker to tell us to pull over. Uh-oh!

"Oh S#!T!" hubby said as he veered over to the right and came to a stop. When the officer approached our car, Adnan and he exchanged cordial greetings and shook hands. (I had never seen anything like this happen in the states before, that's why I am mentioning it.) My husband showed the officer his driver's license and vehicle papers, and the policeman asked Adnan to step out of the car. After they spoke for a minute, I was asked to get out of the car and show the officer the last few photos I had taken on my digital camera screen. Apparently there was a government building that I wasn't aware of, across the street beyond the sculptures I was photographing. I showed the officer the last dozen or so photos I had taken. Luckily that government building wasn't in any of the pictures. The officer smiled and sent us on our merry way when he saw this one: